In four years I hope that a.) the NHL will allow them to play.
I hope that they are not allowed to play. Here\'s my reasons:
1. These players are being paid to play by the NHL, not their countries. Would Canada reimburse the Devs or the Penguins of Brodeur or Crosby got hurt, NO...
2. The NHL is not getting enough exposure to make it worthwhile...
3. The two teams that won gold and silver were the only teams made up of all NHL players; real fair. Finland won bronze with 18 NHL players.
To make it fair it must be amateur only. That means, not professional league at all. The only team with less than 10 NHL players to make the 8 team tournament was Switzerland with two players... Look at the breakdown of NHL players per team...
Canada - 24
USA - 23
Sweden - 19
Finland - 18
Czech Republic - 16
Russia - 14
SLovakia - 13
Germany - 7
Belarus - 4
Latvia - 2
Switzerland - 2
Norway - 1