The NHL may be bungling its Olympic opportunities. But that doesn’t mean hockey isn’t going overseas in 2017-18.
As part of the 2017 SAHP NHL Global Series, the league announced Friday that the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators will hit the road for Nov. 10-11 games in Stockholm.
The two-day slate of contests, set to be featured at the Ericsson Globe, will mark the NHL’s first regular-season presence in Europe in six years and the seventh time clubs have set up temporary shop in Sweden.
Here’s what commissioner Gary Bettman, stuck between a rock and a hard place in drumming up global play without committing to the Olympic stage, said:
“We have more Swedish players than ever in the NHL, and we are extremely pleased that the 2017 SAP NHL Global Series will allow us to showcase a number of those players, with their NHL teams, in their homeland. The return of regular-season NHL games to the international stage will provide yet another highlight for our Centennial celebration.”
Well, it certainly shouldn’t hurt.
