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Beijing 2022: Canada, US favoured as NHL superstars make return to Olympics, hopefully
- Canadian squad will be heavily favoured with the likes of Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, but US could play spoiler
- Germany enter the tournament behind superstar Leon Draisaitl and could be a serious dark horse
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National Hockey League players look to make their return to the Winter Olympics after sitting out the last edition in South Korea in 2018. The NHL, the players’ association and the International Olympic Committee were unable to come to an agreement on a few issues, which means the superstars sat out.
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Things look much more promising for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a year out from the Games, as the NHL has worked out a new collective bargaining agreement that looks to see the players also competing at Milan-Cortina 2026.
The Beijing Olympics remain a potential question mark because of the Covid-19 pandemic which is threatening the Tokyo 2020 version, already delayed by a year. China is also dealing with a backlash over allegations of human rights abuses.
If all goes well, and NHL players do make their way to China, we can expect one of the most competitive ice hockey competitions in history as a number of nations could win gold in a shortened tournament. The squads are broken down into three groups – the favourites, the contenders and a dark horse squad:
The Favourites
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