NHL players will not participate at 2022 Beijing Olympics due to COVID-19: reports

This will not be the first time the National Hockey League has pulled out of the winter games.

Players from the National Hockey League will not participate at next year’s Beijing Winter Olympic Games amid a rise in COVID-19 cases, according to media reports.

The decision by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association comes as COVID-19 cases have exploded and 45 games have been postponed since Dec. 13, the Canadian Press reported citing an anonymous source Tuesday.

Multiple sources also told the ESPN that the NHL and NHL Players’ Association had come to an agreement to not participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament in Beijing.

An official announcement is yet to be made.

With several players testing positive for COVID-19 that has forced dozens of games to be postponed in recent days, the league decided to pause the season early for the holidays.

A four-day shutdown goes into effect Wednesday until Boxing Day.

COVID-19 related reasons have already caused 50 NHL games to be suspended.

Of the 50 games postponed, 45 have occurred over the past two weeks with the delta and omicron variants spreading across North America.