Everything you need to know about the men's Olympic hockey field

2 years ago  /  ESPN NHL

• For the second straight Winter Olympics, the National Hockey League dashed hopes for a "best on best" men's ice hockey tournament.
• But the league added a caveat to the Beijing Games decision: If there was a material interruption in the 2021-22 regular-season schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it could opt out of the Olympics again.
• Thus, the NHL decided to use the Olympic break to make up those games and the players were prohibited from participating again.
• The 37-year-old made a Stanley Cup Final run with Montreal last postseason, found no takers as a free agent and decided to chase a second gold medal after winning one in 2010; forward Daniel Winnik, who played 798 games during an 11-year NHL career; and University of Michigan defenseman Owen Power, who was drafted first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2021.
• Names you might know: Forward Brandon Yip has the most NHL experience, having played 174 games from 2009 to '14, most of them with the Colorado Avalanche.
• 2018 finish: Lost 4-3 in overtime to the Olympic Athletes From Russia to earn an Olympic silver medal, the nation's first medal in men's ice hockey since earning bronze in the 1976 Innsbruck Games.
• Names you might know: Forward Tobias Rieder played 478 games in the NHL, most of them with the Arizona Coyotes.
• He last appeared in 2020-21 with the Buffalo Sabres; defenseman Korbinian Holzer played 206 games in the NHL, the majority of them with the Anaheim Ducks; winger Tom Kuhnhackl won two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017; and forward Dominik Kahun left the NHL after 2021 to play for Bern SC in the Swiss league, where he has 41 points in 37 games.

...

Read Full Article.