LOS ANGELES — With N.H.L. stars pining for the opportunity to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Commissioner Gary Bettman gave no indication that the league would let its players go.
Addressing reporters before the N.H.L. All-Star skills competition on Saturday, Bettman acknowledged that the Olympics had mostly been ignored at the Board of Governors meeting earlier in the day.
“The issue of the Olympics got about 10 seconds of discussion,” Bettman said. “It wasn’t even on the agenda.”
N.H.L. players have participated in the Olympics since 1998, and most who were here for the All-Star Game expressed interest in attending the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.