League officials will meet with the International Ice Hockey Federation in New York on Wednesday. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL hopes to learn if any traction has been made between the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee with regard to potential sticking points, including money issues. NHL officials have expressed concerns that the IOC is not willing to cover out-of-pocket payments it took care of at the past five Olympics.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said those costs were upward of $10 million during a two-week hiatus next season.

”I can’t imagine the NHL owners are willing to pay for the privilege of shutting down for 17 days,” Bettman said Monday at the Prime Time Sports Management Conference in Toronto. ”I just don’t see that.”

If the IOC is not willing to figure out the expenses, Daly said, the NHL and NHL players’ association will have to jointly determine whether to proceed with participation in a sixth consecutive Winter Games.

Bettman said a decision would need to be made by early January at the latest. He also took aim at the restrictive policies of the IOC with regard to the Olympics.

”We’re not allowed to be associated with the Olympics. We’re not allowed to promote that we’re there. We’re not allowed to use the trademarks and logos. We’re not allowed to use the footage,” he said. ”The IOC says this is the way we’re going to do it. `We’re not going to pay. You can’t do this. You can’t do that.’ It doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies.”

NHL and NHLPA officials recently visited the Olympic site in Pyeongchang, believing it to be suitable for international competition.

The post NHL has new meetings set on 2018 Olympics appeared first on IdealCapper.

Under the league’s concussion protocol, teams have had spotters at games in the past. But deputy commissioner Bill Daly said some have found it difficult on the road to isolate one person whose sole responsibility is to keep an eye on players who may have sustained a head injury.

The decision to remove a player from a game still rests with team trainers and medical personnel, but now there’s guaranteed to be an person watching.

”It was really an effort to provide an extra tool or an extra alternative for our clubs in performing the spotter function,” Daly said Wednesday. ”The whole concept of the spotter is to help the trainer and to help other club medical personnel who might not see a given play or really see the results of a given play and really just give them a heads up at what happened.”

The concussion spotters will be watching from various parts of arena, depending on configuration. Daly said the most important thing was the spotters having access to live video feeds and replays.

The spotters do not have to be medical personnel, but they must study written materials and take NHL-mandated online seminars.

In the NFL, concussion spotters now have the authority to stop games if they see a player exhibiting visible signs of a concussion. Daly said it will be different in the NHL because the focus is usually on the end of a play with a player on the bench at the time.

”You’re not really in a position where you’re going to have to stop games,” Daly said. ”But clearly there are some visible signs which a club is mandated to remove a player from the game for evaluation.”

The NHL has prided itself on concussion awareness. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said repeatedly that the league was among the first to begin studying concussions in the 1990s.

The league is the defendant in a lawsuit filed by former players arguing it had the knowledge and resources to better prevent head trauma, failed to properly warn players of such risks and promoted violent play that led to their injuries. Bettman has said the lawsuit is ”without merit.”

The post NHL to use concussion spotters at all games appeared first on IdealCapper.

“Nothing has happened to change the status quo,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a telephone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. “There continues to be interest from some markets, and we continue to be interested in discussing the possibilities, but there is no plan moving forward in terms of expansion.”

The NHL has not expanded since the 2000-01 season when the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets became the 29th and 30th franchises in the league. After last year’s realignment, the Eastern Conference has 16 teams and there are 14 in the Western Conference.

Seattle, Toronto, Quebec City, Las Vegas and Kansas City have been mentioned as markets that might land a new team in the league.

“If we get to a point where there’s enough interest in enough places that it warrants consideration, then the Board of Governors may well invoke a formal expansion process and we’ll look at everything,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said. “I don’t think this is something you do on a piecemeal basis.”

A person with knowledge of the league’s plans, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said reports of a possible four-team NHL expansion were news to him and “I don’t believe it.”

Bettman visited Seattle to meet with local elected leaders in May to get an update on the status of a possible new arena proposed by investor Chris Hansen.

Bettman has said Seattle’s arena situation has to be settled before the NHL would consider expanding there. Legislation approved by city and county officials called for an NBA team to be placed in Seattle before an NHL team unless the memorandum of understanding on the project is rewritten. Hansen has said his group does not have interest in being majority owner of an NHL team.

“Seattle seems to have the most number of people interested,” Bettman said in June. “The fact is there’s no building that’s on the horizon. The person who controls the rights to build a building in Seattle is intent upon having an NBA team before he builds a building. Based on what’s happened to date, and the fact that his partner has now bought a different franchise, I don’t know that there’s any prospect of a building in Seattle. It’s nice that there’s interest, but there’s really not a whole lot for us to do with it.”

The post NHL says expansion not imminent appeared first on IdealCapper.