NHLers in the 2018 Olympics? Decision inches closer

The NHL logo is seen on a goal at a Nashville Predators practice rink in this September 2012 file photo. (AP / Mark Humphrey)

TORONTO - The NHL hopes to inch closer to a decision on the 2018 Olympics later this week.

League officials will meet with the International Ice Hockey Federation in New York on Wednesday. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL hopes to learn if any traction has been made between the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee with regard to potential sticking points for participation at the Games in South Korea.

"Certainly I think we'll know more coming out of that meeting than I know standing here right now," Daly said from the Primetime Sports Management Conference in Toronto.

No decision with regard to NHL participation one way or the other is expected. But the league hopes to learn if the IOC has budged at all with respect to money issues currently clouding the process.

The IOC is resisting covering out-of-pocket payments it took care of at past Olympics. Commissioner Gary Bettman said in June that those costs were "many, many, many millions of dollars."

Daly said he had no reason to think that the IOC's position had changed.