KHL won’t let players participate in 2018 Olympics if Team Russia is banned for doping

Men’s hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics could be set to take another hit. The KHL, widely considered the second-best hockey league in the world behind the NHL, will pull its participation from the Pyeongchang Games if the Russian national team is banned for doping violations, according to the Edmonton Journal’s Peter Adler.

KHL president Dmitry Chernyshenko reportedly confirmed the potential decision to Sport-Express’ Igor Eronko.

That would mean the top two leagues in the world would not be sending their players to the Olympics for the first time in years, further diluting the talent level in a competition that’s already going to pale in comparison to recent tournaments.

The Russian national team’s participation in the 2018 Olympics is currently under review by the International Olympic Committee after investigations commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2015 and 2016 revealed widespread doping and corruption with the government’s involvement.

There are new investigations currently ongoing that will provide further information for the IOC to make its final ruling, which will happen in December.

During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the IOC declined WADA’s recommendation to ban the entire Russian national team, instead allowing each sport’s federation to determine whether athletes would be allowed to participate. In the end, 271 Russian athletes competed in Rio.

This time around, it’s possible that the IOC decides to ban the Russian team and only let certain athletes participate on a case-by-case basis under a neutral flag. If that happens, it could have a major impact on men’s hockey in Pyeongchang, and not just for Team Russia.

Players from different countries play in the KHL, so this would potentially impact other national teams beyond Russia. If the league decides to prevent everyone from going, which Chernyshenko indicated would be the case, then players such as Linus Omark (Sweden), Eeli Tolvanen (Finland), Jiri Sekac (Czech Republic), and Linden Vey (Canada) would be out of the mix for their respective countries. Vey and Ben Scrivens were among KHL players on Canada’s preliminary Olympic roster.

And of course, no Team Russia would mean taking away the clear favorite from the tournament. Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Nikita Gusev, Valeri Nichushkin, Mikhail Grigorenko, Andrei Markov, and Igor Shestyorkin are among the top Russian players who would miss out if the KHL pulls out. Several players who signed with the league this year said they did so partially because of Olympic eligibility.

As IIHF president Rene Fasel reportedly said, this would be a “disaster” for men’s hockey in Pyeongchang. The tournament would be a total free for all comprised largely of players nobody has heard of.

The IOC, which recently permanently banned two Russian skiers from competition, expects to have its current commissions’ findings ready to make a final decision next month. It’s going to be a big story for the Olympics in general, but in particular for hockey fans.