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Beijing will host the next Winter Olympics in 2022. President Xi has staked national prestige on staging a successful Olympics. The men’s hockey gold medal match is the closing event at every Winter Games. If the biggest NHL stars play in a 2022 final pitting Canada against the United States or Russia, a worldwide television audience leading into the closing ceremony would be the final jewel crowning Xi’s Olympics.

The Korea Olympics were a TV ratings flop. Viewers of men’s hockey games fell 30 per cent in the lucrative U.S. market compared to 2014, when NHL stars did play at the Olympics. The IOC needs a successful China Olympics to protect the value of broadcasting rights for future Games.

Meanwhile, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman sees China as an “exciting, interesting opportunity that, based on the sheer magnitude of the market, can’t be and shouldn’t be ignored.” To win concessions from the IOC and NHL Players’ Association, Bettman may bluff boycotting another Olympics. But, with NHL owners lusting after the Chinese market, Bettman will likely eventually agree to send his players to Beijing in 2022.

The Canadian government could put a quick end to hockey fans’ fears about the next Olympics. If Trudeau asks for President Xi’s help, Canadian and Chinese diplomats could work to bring the NHL and IOC together on a win-win deal well before the 2022 Games.

Canada’s foreign policy mandarins might grumble about being drafted to work on this seemingly frivolous issue. However, historians recall “ping pong diplomacy” when U.S. President Nixon’s 1972 trip to Beijing was preceded by a tour of Communist China by American table tennis players.