When news broke that during Canada's game against Latvia, this felt inevitable: Islanders general manager Garth Snow is really, really mad that his franchise player is done for the season. GM Garth Snow spitting mad over Tavares' Olympic injury: "Are the IIHF or IOC going to reimburse our season ticket holders now?" Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) More Snow: "It's a joke. They want all the benefits from NHL players in Olympics and don't want to pay when our best player gets hurt." Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) Snow: "It wouldn't matter if we were 10 points up on a playoff spot or 10 points out. We lost our best player and he wasn't playing for us." Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) He's got a point (though refunds for season-ticket Jacoby Jones Jersey holders is a slippery slope when your team is perpetually at the salary cap floor, failed to improve after a playoff berth and is moving to Brooklyn in 2016). The whole situation underscores a question that's already huge and only going to get larger: Will the NHL continue sending its players to the Olympics? Negotiations will heat up for 2018 over the next several months, and one very real po sibility is that the league opts for a World Cup-style tournament of its own rather than dealing with the IOC. The pros to that: it would be held in the summer, when any injuries incurred would be a smaller deal, and, most importantly, make the league a ton of money. The benefits from the Olympics are fairly intangible; a World Cup would mean money off ticket sales, broadcast deals and merchandise sales. Doubtful any of that would go to season-ticket refunds, but who can say? Tavares and the rest of the NHL players participating, about 150 in all, do have their contracts insured, but that's about it. In the meantime, the Islanders and NHL are certainly much worse off without Tavares, who started the Olympics third in the NHL with 66 points and was a Hart Trophy finalist last season. That's not a question at all. Zach Mckinstry Jersey