LOS ANGELES >> Drew Doughty would like to play in the Winter Olympics next February in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He would like to win his third gold medal for Canada. He also would like to know when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will make up his mind about sending the league’s players.

Or keeping them at home.

NHL players have played in each Winter Olympics since 1998, when the league made its long-awaited and much-anticipated debut in Nagano, Japan. Doughty, a Kings defenseman, and Canada have won the last two gold medal, in Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010.

Bettman said Wednesday at the league’s general managers’ meetings in Boca Raton, Florida, that there was “absolutely nothing new” to report about the league’s Olympics participation, which was more or less what he said Jan. 28 at the All-Star Weekend at Staples Center.

“Unless something changes, we’re not going,” Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, told the Canadian Press on Wednesday, taking Bettman’s standard statement one step further. “We’ve said that consistently for three months, so there’s nothing new about that.”

Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers was incensed by Bettman’s comments, and especially those of Daly. Voracek played for his native Czech Republic in Sochi, and he made it clear he was willing to put up with a compressed NHL schedule to play again in Pyeongchang.

“Absolutely ridiculous,” Voracek told a Philadelphia reporter Friday. “We have it once every four years. I read something that Bill Daly said we’re not going (and) nobody wants to go. The players want to go. Why are you saying you’re not going? You’re not part of the players’ association.

“Nobody wants you there. They want the players.”

Doughty wasn’t nearly as emotional on the subject as was Voracek, but he said it would be nice to know what the NHL’s plans were as soon as possible. Doughty said he would like to go to try to win a third gold medal, but acknowledged the decision wasn’t up to him.

“It would be awesome to win a third one,” Doughty said of going for an Olympic three-peat with Canada. “We’ve won a few tournaments here lately (including the World Cup of Hockey last fall in Toronto), and everybody is going to be gunning for us.

“So it’s going to be that much harder to win, which would make it fun.”

It wouldn’t be the same with college or minor-league players in Pyeongchang, Doughty said.

“I wouldn’t be watching,” he said.

Lineup shuffle

Kings coach Darryl Sutter altered his defense corps for the Kings’ game Saturday against the league-leading Washington Capitals at Staples Center. Kevin Gravel returned to the lineup and Brayden McNabb sat out for the first time since a Jan. 21 game against the New York Islanders.

Gravel was scratched for the past four games after playing in four consecutive after sitting out for five in a row. He scored one goal and five points before Saturday’s game. McNabb (two goals, four points) was sidelined 27 games earlier this season because of a broken collarbone.