NHL players hear the harsh realities of Olympic participation

The messaging from both the NHL and NHLPA is that players are taking huge risks going to Beijing...and remembering a family member lost to another pandemic

Erik Karlsson has said he probably won’t be representing Sweden in the Olympics.

As the the number of teams being affected by COVID climbs and the best players in the world wrestle with their decision whether or not to go to Beijing to take part in the Olympics, the message to them from the NHL and NHL Players’ Association is that they’re basically on their own. The messaging to those players has been that there are huge risks associated with going. It’s not that they’re being discouraged from playing, but it’s important that they know the COVID risks they’re facing.

“It’s pretty sobering,” said one person close to the situation. “It’s like, ‘Your choice, but here’s what you’re getting into.’ It’s basically discussions about, ‘You’re in China. They don’t give a sh—about what the NHL and the NHLPA has to say. And guess what? All these countries are not sending their diplomats (because of the diplomatic boycott), China is mad and you’re not going to get any concierge service. There’s nothing we can do. If you test positive, you’re going to quarantine jail for anywhere from three to five weeks and you’re not getting paid.’ ”

So you can see why players are starting to take pause. Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner has already closed the door on playing for Sweden and San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson has essentially said he won’t be going either. The players are having to balance that against the opportunity to do something they’ve fought hard to have the right to do. Today’s players are now part of a generation that grew up watching NHLers in the Olympics, so it’s something they’ve aspired to do since they were kids.

And what does this mean for the All-Star Game? Some of the players who will be representing their countries will also be asked to be in Vegas for the weekend of Feb. 4-5, then will leave for China, since the hockey tournament begins Feb. 9. Are the players willing to risk being in a place like Vegas, with the Omicron variant of the virus spreading much more easily and rapidly than any other. “The players are being told, ‘What if you pop up positive on the plane ride (to China) or when you land?’ ” the source said. “ ‘Doesn’t matter. You’re going to go to quarantine jail for five weeks. You’re not going to see one game and you’re going to sit in a hospital and not get paid.’ I think players are now just getting exposed to these harsh realities.”

At this point, and the situation is fluid, players are not going to be told they can’t go. But it’s probable that, as we get closer, more players are going to decide it’s not worth the risk. “With all these people coming from so many different countries, what are the chances that everyone is going to be negative,” the source said. “Someone is going to be positive. Somebody is going to go to quarantine jail. And then what do you do? And if the close contacts have to isolate as well, does that mean the whole team? What are they going to do?”

Keenen Christopher Kivi: 1993-2021

Rest easy, Keenen.

Those of you who have been kind enough to subscribe to Hockey Unfiltered might be wondering why I haven’t posted much lately, particularly with so much going on in the hockey world. Maybe not. But I thought I would explain.

Last week, my great-nephew died at home at the age of 18. He was living with his grandmother, my sister, in my hometown of Sudbury, Ont. His name was Keenen Christopher Kivi and he was a wonderful young man who was trying his best. But an experiment with fentanyl went terribly wrong and a family who loved him is left to wonder why it happened. I’m told the opioid death rate in Sudbury and Timmins is the highest per capita in Ontario and health professionals in Sudbury have identified the opioid crisis as significant. In 2020, a mother grieving the death of her son from an overdose drove a single cross into the ground last fall where her son’s body had been found.  Within a month, there were more than 50 crosses on the site, and at last count Crosses For Life has become a haunting memorial to a crisis that has gotten a little lost in the COVID pandemic. A spate of five recent deaths put the total number of crosses at 223 and there is talk of erecting a permanent memorial. (Keenen’s best friend asked my sister if he could get a cross, which will increase the number by at least one in the coming days.)

From January to May of this year, 50 people in the Sudbury area died of suspected opioid overdoses and between January and October, paramedics responded to 724 opioid-related incidents. In an area of about 165,000 people, almost 24,000 doses of Narcan were distributed in the same time period.

I asked Keenen’s little sister, Rihanna, what was the most important thing she wanted people to know about her brother. “I don’t think he meant for any of this to happen.” Rihanna said. “And he wouldn’t want anybody crying about it. I think he just wants us to know that he loves us all and he just really cared about everybody. He wouldn’t want anyone else to die the way he did. And he misses everybody, too.”

Rihanna is 13 years old. She requested an open casket because she said she wanted an opportunity to kiss her brother one more time. What a brave, lovely young girl she is. She will carry on, but she shouldn’t have to without her big brother. I ask that you remember Keenen Christopher Kivi. He was a boy, he was loved, and he was one of thousands of people in Canada who have lost their lives to this scourge. Rest easy, young man.