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René Fasel, the diminutive Swiss dentist who runs the International Ice Hockey Federation, believes there is a "better than 90-per-cent chance" the NHL will participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Fasel made his prediction this week, after a news conference to introduce Molson Canadian Hockey House, a massive temporary entertainment complex that is being built in conjunction with the 2010 Games in Vancouver to, among other things, entertain players on the Olympic hockey teams and their families.

The NHL's position toward participating in the next Olympics is lukewarm, something Fasel believes is short-sighted.

"Speaking with the players, I know they want to go," Fasel said. "Just listen to what [Alexander] Ovechkin says, or [Evgeni] Malkin. Even the guys who don't play in the Olympics, they want to go on vacation, playing golf during the break. Even they would be in favour.

"Nothing is ever 100 per cent, but I would think there is a better than 90-per-cent chance they will come."

Fasel reiterated his position with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, as part of the 2009 Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

"It's known that Gary is not so much in favour to go to the Olympics of 2014," Fasel said. "I think this is wrong. He should be the man that says, ‘We want to go because this is good for our sport.' I think this is a must for the game. He was not so happy with me for saying this."

But Fasel understands Bettman's public position may be different than his private stance on the matter, noting: "I also think this is part of the strategy of negotiation. Knowing Gary, it could be that. If he says yes now, he cannot negotiate it with the players afterwards - because he knows they want to go."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said he wasn't prepared to handicap the league's Olympic participation "with a percentage. There are positives to going to the Olympics and there are clear negatives - and those all have to be evaluated.

"What I would say is, based on the experience in Turin, which was not a good experience, it is only prudent to await the experience in Vancouver to make those determinations. There is no rush from our perspective. It is something we will have to evaluate with the players' association and now is not the appropriate time to be doing that."

According to Daly, the downside of 2006 Turin participation included injuries.

"We had a much worse injury experience than ever before," he said. "That clearly impacted some of our clubs down to the wire last season, and that was not received well by either our general managers or owners."

Fasel was joined at the press conference by Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson and Steve Yzerman, executive director of the 2010 Canadian men's Olympic hockey team.

In his remarks, Nicholson mentioned in passing he'd held a dinner for the 2010 women's national hockey team at his home in Calgary two weeks ago, at which time Molson presented each member of the team with a $10,000 bursary to help defray training costs.

"At first they thought it was a prank," Nicholson said. "Then they thought it was $10,000 for the entire team. When they found out it was $10,000 for each of the 26 players, there were tears shed."

Tyler Stewart, drummer of the Barenaked Ladies, was introduced as the venue's executive director of entertainment. His band will perform during the 16-day Olympic tournament, as will several other prominent Canadian artists, including Tom Cochrane.

Molson Canadian Hockey House is an 81,000-square-foot hospitality pavilion on the shores of Vancouver's False Creek near the athlete's village that will open its doors to players, fans and IIHF delegates during the Winter Olympics.

Among the celebrations planned for the event will be a reception to honour the 22 players in the IIHF's Triple Gold Club - players who've won a Stanley Cup championship, an Olympic gold medal and a senior men's world championship.