Some countries have fears about the Olympics - The NHL was right the whole time

The players negotiated being in the Olympics into the last CBA, but with this year's Olympics being in China there were obvious concerns from a humanitarian perspective. Many questions were asked by owners of insurance of the safety of their investments (Players) and risks behind any behaviors that might be deemed to be against China's current governing regime.

At least one country is now openly sharing those concerns. According to Rick Westhead the Dutch Olympic Committee shared the following information.

"Dutch Olympic Committee advising athletes, coaches & staff not to take personal phones to Beijing Olympics, saying China may carry out surveillance on electronic devices.
Athletes & others to be given temp phones & laptops that will be destroyed after the Games."

It's clear the Dutch Olympic Committee has some of the same concerns and as country with less high profile athletes this is telling. They're also willing to go to great lengths to protect their athletes clearly.

Not to diminish any of the Olympic Athletes or their hard work, but if the NHL would have attended the games their star power would have far superceded that of any other athletes at the games.

The NHL knew this and because of that they had significant privacy and security concerns, even if they won't admit it. As much as we all wanted to see a best on best tournament, the NHL made the right call the whole time.