Crosby: NHL missing Olympics would be disappointing

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar and Team Canada hero Sidney Crosby feels bummed about losing his chance to represent his country at the Olympics for a third time.

The NHL's participation at the Beijing games in February is reportedly off the table, as the league and players' association agreed to withdraw and are in the process of finalizing the decision with the International Olympic Committee.

"It would be disappointing, that's the best way I can describe it," Crosby said Monday, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "Obviously, I know from experience how special and unique the Olympics are. And not only thinking about my experience but thinking of the guys that haven't had the opportunity to be part of it.

"And knowing what they could potentially miss. Yeah, I think just 'disappointing' would be the best way to describe it."

After missing out on the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, the NHL and NHLPA negotiated 2022 participation as part of a new collective bargaining agreement signed in 2020. This past September, all sides finalized a plan to send the world's best players to China, but it was contingent on the pandemic's effect on the NHL schedule.

Crosby was one of the first three players named to Canada's 2022 roster, along with Connor McDavid and Alex Pietrangelo. Before the NHL's COVID situation drastically worsened, Sid the Kid worked to convince his potential teammates to find the positives in playing overseas this winter.

"Just trying to be part of the solution was kind of how I looked at it and understanding from talking to guys just the fact that everyone really wanted to be a part of the Olympics and understandably so," Crosby said.

"It's a unique experience, there's nothing like it as an athlete. It's very special. I think trying to relay that and also trying to work through the issues and understand what they are, and how we can try to make it work, it's a complex situation, you know, this isn't the same as the issues leading up to the Olympics in the past."

Crosby, 34, is aware the 2022 games would likely be his last as a player. He's won two Olympic gold medals in his storied career, and his overtime clincher on home soil in 2010 still lives on in Canadian lore.

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