Alex Ovechkin has admitted his dream of representing his country in the 2018 Winter Olympics is dead.

The Washington Capitals star winger issued a written statement through the team on Thursday confirming he would not compete for Russia at the Pyeongchang Games.

“I said every time I was asked since last Olympics that nobody is going to tell me I can’t play because my country was going to be allowed to ask me,” Ovechkin wrote. “Now the IIHF and NHL say my country is not allowed to ask anybody in the NHL to play – and there is nothing to talk about any more.”

The NHL had accommodated a break in the regular-season schedule for every Winter Olympics since 1998, allowing the world’s best players to compete for their national teams. But the league announced in April that it will make no such concession for 2018, saying it yields no tangible benefit for shutting down for three weeks despite practically uniform enthusiasm from the players to participate.

The International Ice Hockey Federation, world ice hockey’s governing body, had initially hoped to broker a deal with the league, agreeing to foot the cost for the players’ travel and insurance after the International Olympic Committee refused. But the NHL sought even further concessions, said to be marketing opportunities tied to the Olympics comparable to that of a top sponsor.

Whatever hopes lingered of an eleventh-hour deal after months of silence were scuppered on Tuesday when IIHF president Rene Fasel said it was “practically impossible” to hash out in time for the Pyeongchang Games, which will take place from 9-25 February next year.

“I can say that this is now gone. We can tick that off the list,” Fasel told Reuters. “We will have to look ahead to China and the Beijing 2022 Winter Games because there is an interest of the league and we have noted that.

“But logistically it is practically impossible for Pyeongchang. That train has left the station.”

Ovechkin, who turns 32 next week, had been the among the most vocal advocates in favor of participation, even saying he would compete with Russia if he were the only NHL player to travel to South Korea, a statement lent credibility by the public support of Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. But the IIHF’s assurance to the NHL that no players under contract will be permitted to suit up has effectively closed that avenue.

“NHL players in the Olympics is good for hockey and good for Olympics,” Ovechkin wrote. “It sucks that will we not be there to play!!”

The Soviet Union, later the Unified Team, won eight of a possible 10 Olympic gold medals from 1956 through 1992, often deploying their top domestic professionals before the NHL granted permission to their players for the Nagano Games in 1998.

Ovechkin has participated in the last three Olympics, failing to reach the podium as Russia finished fourth in 2006, sixth in 2010 and fifth on home ice in Russia three years ago. His dissatisfaction with the league’s decision was echoed by his NHL brethren on social media, in particular Russian players looking for a chance at redemption after their underwhelming showing in Sochi.

St Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who played alongside Ovechkin in 2014, said players “get pride playing for their country” and expressed frustration that executives took his and others’ Olympic opportunity away.

Evgeni Malkin recently told the Sovietsky Sport newspaper that he hoped the Pittsburgh Penguins would let him go to the Olympics, adding of the NHL’s decision: “There’s nothing good about this at all.”

Other NHL players have expressed similar discontent.

“It’s disappointing,” said Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, a first-choice player for Canada if healthy. “I’ve never got that chance. I would love to be able to play in Olympics. I’ve heard that they’re real fun.”

Said Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, who won a silver medal with the United States in 2010 and played in Sochi: “You always relish the opportunity to play for your country, and you don’t want to miss too many of those opportunities, especially when it’s at the caliber of the Olympics.

“It would’ve been fun to go to South Korea and to play in the Olympics. Obviously it’s not going to happen.”