• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, November 28, 2008

While NBC is expected to benefit at least modestly from NHL players in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, whether league players will return for the following Winter Games is far from certain. A top NHL executive suggested that the Olympics have not provided the visibility bump the league hoped for when its players joined in 1998.

"I don't know that the league has really figured out a way to leverage the Olympic platform," said NHL COO John Collins, who joined the league in 2006, after the Olympics. (The NHL is committed to the Games through 2010.) Collins made his comments at a recent industry event.

In contrast, the NBA benefited with international marketing opportunities and retail sales from its "Dream Team" players in the 1992 Olympics, and to a lesser extent, the success of its "Redeem Team" last summer. The NHL had hoped for a similar effect on a global stage.

Collins was not the first NHL executive to insinuate that the 2010 Games may be the last to include the world's best hockey players. (Commissioner Gary Bettman did so earlier in the fall.) Collins reiterated suggestions that in lieu of the Olympics, the league and its players' union might instead opt for a World Cup every four years, which would be co-owned by the two.

A World Cup would take place in the fall before the season began. The Olympics start in the middle of the season, which causes the league to shut down for multiple weeks. Both Bettman and the head of the union, John Kelly, confirmed that discussions were ongoing.

It's uncertain what impact the NHL dropping the Olympics would have on negotiations by NBC, ESPN and Fox to acquire rights to future Games--although probably slim to none. With figure skating, speed skating and snowboarding taking center stage in NBC coverage recently, hockey has been essentially relegated to a much lower tier.

Since NHL players joined the Games, two images may dominate the collective consciousness: one on each end of the spectrum. In 1998, American team members destroyed property in Olympic Village rooms after losing. But in 2002, the U.S. returned to the Gold Medal game and played well against Canada, before the Canadians, led by New Jersey Devils legend Martin Brodeur, won their first gold in half a century.