MUNICH — Having already delivered on a critical part of his mandate by getting NHL players back to the Olympics earlier this year, Marty Walsh doesn’t think it will be a big challenge to keep them there.The NHL Players’ Association’s executive director believes the experience in Milan-Cortina was so overwhelmingly positive that it will force all stakeholders to make things work when it comes time to hammer out an official deal for the 2030 Games in the French Alps.The NHLPA already has a formal commitment from the NHL on participation in the next Winter Olympics as part of their 2025 memorandum of understanding, although the clause in that agreement notes it is “subject to negotiation of terms acceptable to each of the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF (and/or IOC).”In the past, those negotiations have broken down. The NHL skipped the 2018 Olympics after sending players to the five preceding Games, then pulled out of 2022 over COVID-19 concerns. But Walsh doesn’t think there’s any danger of a similar step back this time around.“I would be shocked if the IOC and the IIHF didn’t understand that they need us in the Olympics, because the ratings were off the charts,” he told The Athletic during the NHL/NHLPA European player media tour. “The president of the IOC (Kirsty Coventry) mentioned in a comment about ‘The Olympics helps the NHL with ratings.’ Yeah, but the NHL helped the Olympics with ratings. Let’s not (kid) ourselves. I think 20-something million people watched the gold medal game.”The official number in the United States was 18.6 million average live viewers on NBC and Peacock. In Canada, 8.7 million were tuned in to CBC at the game’s conclusion. And the U.S.-Canada men’s final saw the puck dropped just after 8 a.m. ET, prompting NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to later say that the ratings “would’ve been twice as high” with an afternoon start in North America.Why sports leagues finally embraced Las VegasTifo SportsFor Walsh, the larger point is that all stakeholders have too much to lose if they can’t find agreement on the hospitality, ticketing, insurance and marketing details that go into the deal that formally delivers NHL players to the Olympics.“We’ll get there,” he said. “I’m not worried about that. The agreement is not about players playing in the Olympics; the agreement is all the other stuff that goes with it. Like accommodations and all that stuff. I’m not worried about that.”Growing the game internationally and establishing a robust calendar of international events are big priorities for Walsh, and it’s been one of the major successes during his tenure with the NHLPA.