It's here: the much-hyped Vancouver 2010 Olympic men's hockey tournament - the greatest showcase the sport has had in our lifetime.
It marks the fourth consecutive Olympic Winter Games featuring hockey's best players, beginning 12 years ago when Nagano 1998 represented the historic debut of the NHL and NHLPA as partners with the International Ice Hockey Federation on the Olympic stage.
Despite the disappointment of Canada's performance in Nagano, the impact of the NHL's involvement on the '98 hockey tournament in particular and on those Winter Games in general was unmistakable. The global television numbers for hockey at Salt Lake City 2002 -- including the record Canadian ratings driven by Canada's final win over the U.S. -- were terrific for the sport...and the NHL.
Turin 2006 was a seventh-place disaster for Canada and worse for the U.S. but produced a new Olympic champion in Sweden and was a big deal for hockey fans in Europe.
In Nagano, Salt Lake, Turin and now Vancouver, there can be no denying the NHL has been good for the Olympics. Yet four years after the last Games and five years since the last round of collective bargaining, it appears that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his Board of Governors still need convincing that the Olympics are good for the world's premiere hockey league.
That's the conclusion one draws with the Olympic men's hockey tournament at Canada Hockey Place (General Motors Place) opening today without an agreement in place for the NHL's participation at Sochi 2014.
If it was a priority for the NHL, that deal would have been in place by now - even if it required a side-deal with the NHLPA and was contingent on resolving the contentious player transfer issue involving the Russian Hockey Federation. Whatever the complexities of the agreement, a strategic-thinking NHL would have made it happen before Vancouver 2010.
It would have been just one step towards making the most of the business opportunity for the NHL, which is ostensibly one of the league's larger concerns as it weighs whether it should stay or leave the Olympic tent.
The most progressive organizations in sport use one event to promote the next staging of that event, whether it's annual, bi-annual or every four years like the Winter Olympics. The best franchises start selling their season tickets for the next year before the current campaign ends. National governing bodies such as Tennis Canada sell tickets to the next year's Rogers Cup at each tournament.
Anytime now during Vancouver 2010 -- or ideally before these Games -- would have been the right time for the NHL to confirm its place alongside the IIHF at Sochi 2014.
Yet inexplicably, that deal is nowhere on the horizon. In fact, to date Bettman has been nothing but wishy-washy on the issue. His attitude and lack of leadership on the NHL's position with respect to Sochi 2014 make us long for the days of former NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly, who clearly articulated his support of the Olympics. Unlike Bettman, Kelly understood both the tangible and intangible benefits of the Olympics for the NHL brand and the business of hockey - and they far outweigh the costs and disadvantages of a two-week break in the NHL schedule once every four years.
Given the origins of the game, having the most important hockey tournament in history on Canadian ice is a natural. Yet Russia has its own tradition of global hockey excellence and is clearly the game's second leading country. It is only fitting that Russia and Sochi 2014 follow Canada and Vancouver 2010 with a hockey mash-up involving a fully-engaged NHL and featuring the world's best players.
There is no doubt the NHL's return would benefit the IOC, Sochi 2014 and the IIHF. Yet having the game's top players represent their countries, build their own reputations and create Olympic history is great story-telling and it's completely on strategy if the NHL truly wants to grow the game -- and its brand -- globally.
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