It was considered a no-brainer for the NHL about 20 years ago; the league needed as much exposure as it could get in the hyper- accelerated world of sports media, with sports vying for the ever-shortening attention spans of Americans.

Therefore, it was a must that NHL players venture to the Winter Olympics to spread the word of the "Coolest Game on Earth" — even if to a captive audience.

But now the NHL is much better positioned to choose how it exposes its brand. Gone are the days of punch line-inducing national television ratings numbers on second-tier networks and smart-aleck newspaper headlines such as "40-year-old rerun of 'Family Affair' beats Stanley Cup Finals in Arbitron numbers."
rest - http://www.denverpost.com/olympics/c...ether-olympics