This Wednesday afternoon, the NHL announced that it would not allow players from the 32 NHL clubs to take part in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. The corresponding message on the website of the IIHF World Association can be found here:
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/olympic-m/news/31267/nhl_pulls_out_of_olympics
Shortly after the decision, both spoke out DEB-Sports director Christian Künast and national coach Toni Söderholm as follows:
DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: “We were under no illusions and always knew that the NHL could back down. Unfortunately, the pandemic situation has not developed to our advantage, so we regret the decision, especially for our North American cracks, but we can understand the content. On the other hand, we will use the clarity of the decision and are now fully concentrating on our final organization until we leave for Beijing.”
National coach Toni Söderholm: “It's good to now have a final decision to move forward with all our plans around the team. Of course it's a shame, especially for our Germans in the NHL, because they really wanted to be at the Olympics. With or without NHL players, we are going into the Olympic ice hockey tournament with confidence and will use the coming weeks to prepare ourselves optimally for the challenge in Beijing.”