LOS ANGELES -- The hope from some NHL players is that it's just part of a negotiation. The hope is that the prospects of representing their countries in the 2018 Winter Olympics are better than the words of doom coming from commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

If you listen to those representing the NHL, the time has just about run out to find a suitable deal that will send the best hockey players in the world to Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018.

And if that's true, it's a serious problem to the biggest stars in the game.