NHL players won't compete at Beijing Winter Olympics

National Hockey League players will not compete at February's Beijing Winter Olympics, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Wednesday, due to Covid-19 disruptions.

The league paused its season on Wednesday after 50 games had been postponed due to Covid-19 outbreaks among clubs, with plans to reschedule those contests during the February 6-22 window of the Games in China.

"The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL Players to represent their countries and participate in a 'best on best' tournament," Bettman said in a statement Wednesday.

"Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

"Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL's regular-season schedule caused by recent Covid-related events -- 50 games already have been postponed through December 23 -- Olympic participation is no longer feasible."

Olympic rosters will now be filled by players from European leagues, colleges and development clubs as they were at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, when the NHL elected not to take part.

Players expressed their disappointment on Tuesday when reports of the NHL's decision began.

"It would have been a great thing for our game to have all the NHL players go," said Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, who won gold medals with Canada in 2010 and 2014.

"Players are going to put their own health and their own families and their own clubs' situation as priorities ahead of going to Beijing and dealing with some very unpredictable scenarios. So to me, that's the right way to go about it."

Players had expressed concerns about the length of time they might miss while being quarantined should they test positive for Covid-19 in China.