The NHL is mooting whether to send players to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. It’s at the final discretion of the league, not the players. Big fail by the NHL Players Association, though pressing for control would have served just a small percentage of the membership.

I’m against it.

International hockey can’t top its past:

• Paul Henderson scores to give Canada victory over the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series.

• The Soviet super teams, which won seven Olympic gold medals from 1956-88. Maybe the best hockey assemblage ever.

• 1980’s Miracle on Ice. You saw the movie.

• Mario Lemieux scores for Canada to beat the Soviets in the 1987 Canada Cup.

• Sidney Crosby’s golden goal for Canada in the 2010 Olympics.

The big rivalries fell along with the Iron Curtain and when Soviet bloc players came to play in the NHL. If there’s not a nuclear standoff, I’m not excited.

I’m against NHL teams putting assets at risk in an endeavor that doesn’t directly benefit the league. Past Olympics have not boosted NHL TV ratings noticeably. If Crosby gets hurt skating for Canada, it becomes the Pittsburgh Penguins’ problem not long after. Crosby works for the Penguins, not Canada.

I’m against interrupting the NHL season to break for the Olympics. I far prefer the World Cup of Hockey, which gets played just before the NHL campaign.

The NHL is the best hockey league in the world. It should not make itself second fiddle.

But Canada runs the NHL, and Canada wants international hockey.

It’s the only chance for Canada to win something. (For Connor McDavid, too.)

No Canadian-based team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993. But Canada has won gold on three of the five occasions that NHL players have played in the Olympics, including the last two (2010, 2014).

International hockey used to have evil empires and matchups that never occurred otherwise. Soviet players like Vladislav Tretiak and Valeri Kharlamov seemed mythical figures.

Now it’s the same players competing against each other for the umpteenth time, just in different combinations. It’s not that special.

I’m vociferously opposed to a four-team, in-season tournament being considered by the NHL for 2025. It would include Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden but not Russia. That’s obviously because of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Don’t mix sport with politics. This is international hockey. If Russia isn’t involved, it doesn’t count.

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