This morning, the National Hockey League put out a statement confirming that their players will not be permitted to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

According to the statement, which you can read here, the NHL made this decision because of rising COVID-19 cases within the league, and the increasing number of postponed games due to positive cases. League Commissioner, Gary Bettman has indicated that players will be permitted to attend the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics in Italy.

NHL players were originally expected to represent their home countries in the upcoming Winter Games. The last time that NHL players participated in the Olympics was the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.