There are many obstacles standing between the NHL and its participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

There’s the estimated $10 million in travel and insurance costs that the IOC says it’s not willing to cover for the players. There’s the fact that Pyeongchang isn’t a market the NHL cares about, and the time difference isn’t advantageous for North American television. And then there’s the simple fact that many owners just hate shutting down the season for the Olympics, and would be happier collecting some money for World Cup and Ryder Cup preseason tournaments.

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But among the obstacles are worries about “the physical layout of the Olympic Games, and whether the location of the Olympic Games makes that run smoothly,” according to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

This week, the League is getting a chance to examine that location and those facilities.

The Pyeongchang Organizing Committee announced that Lynn White, NHL vice-president of international strategy, and NHL ice guru Dan Craig will be there to look at the Kwandong and Gangneung Hockey Centres. They’ll be joined by NHLPA chief of global business strategies Sandra Monteiro and Mathieu Schneider, NHLPA Special Assistant to the Executive Director. Hannes Ederer and Christian Hofstetter, the deputy general secretary and marketing director of the IIHF, will also be there.

According to Inside The Games, they will “attend a dinner reception hosted by Korea Ice Hockey Association President Chung Mong-won before traveling north-east to the city of Gangneung, at which all ice sports will be located during the 2018 Games.”

The NHL has participated in the Olympics since 1998, but is playing some serious hardball with the IOC this Olympiad. Initially, the NHL wanted more funding for player housing and amenities for their families; as well as an increase in their ability to sell Olympics branding merchandise, given them and Adidas a revenue windfall like the World Cup of Hockey.

But the IOC not only wouldn’t go there – they completely refused to fund the pro players’ travel and insurance any longer. IIHF President René Fasel has vowed to reestablish that funding, but it’s as if the two sides both just went down that giant chute on “Chutes and Ladders” and are back at the first square. (Or went that “down that giant snake” if you’re one of those kids whose British Auntie gave them “Snakes and Ladders” instead.)

That Jan. 15, 2017 deadline for the NHL and Olympic participation is getting closer, and the prospects remain grim, even with this week’s facilities tour.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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