February 7-22, 1998 – Nagano, Japan

There were two key events which led to the almost full participation of NHL players at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The first was the NHL lockout that cost fans most of the 1994-95 season. Out of this lockout came a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and among the agreed-upon paragraphs in the new CBA was a commitment by both the players and the league to shut down NHL operations for long enough to ensure worldwide promotion of the North American game during the Nagano Games.

The second event represented a textbook definition of irony. In 1970, Canada had withdrawn from international hockey in protest over the IIHF’s refusal to allow pros to play in the World Championships and Olympics. Yet, in the discussions for participation in 1998, Canada alone objected to the use of pros, preferring instead to see the Olympics remain an amateur competition. Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson confessed as much: "All of the European countries, along with the U.S., wanted NHL players involved because they really thought it would give better exposure to hockey globally. We were the odd federation out, so we went on side with it."

IIHF president René Fasel also saw this participation as a tremendous opportunity, and the NHL hoped it would kick start interest – and NHL participation – again in 2002, when the Olympics would take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. The biggest obstacle to overcome in 1998 was time. For NHLers, Nagano was halfway around the world, and playing with severe jetlag would hardly produce the high level of hockey that would, indeed, be great promotion.