There has been a lot of controversy with the NHL this year about not letting the players partake in the Olympics this upcoming year. I have one thing to say about this: are they serious?

You are going to tell these players that they are not allowed to go home and play for the country they love? So many of the greats play for their home countries and win medals on one of the biggest stages in the world.

Some argue that by not letting the NHL players compete, it will give amateur players the chance to shine. But what happened to the best in each country getting the opportunity to play for the coveted gold medal? Don't you want to see the BEST from each country play, not just the people leftover after the NHL said these players were not allowed?

These amateur players that people are referring to can still shine, regardless of whether they are playing with NHL players or not. To be honest, they might shine even more with the help of people like Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Jaromir Jagr, Carey Price and many other talented players.

The NHL should not decide whether or not these players compete: it should be up to them, their coaches and their teams. If a coach is worried that one of his players may get hurt in the Olympics and does not let them play, that is up to the coach. If a player wants to relax and not play in the Olympics, that is his decision. Why should it be up to the NHL?

All these players want to do is compete on the biggest stage and battle it out to bring back the gold to the country they left so they can make a career for themselves at the highest level in hockey in the United States. Why punish them for doing that?

Other sports allow their professional athletes to play in the Olympics, like the NBA. Why limit one sport to this rule?

For years, NHL players have been competing in the Olympics. In fact, so many of them competed last year alone. There is no need to change a tradition that has been working throughout time.

Let the boys play. There is only so much time left before they won't be able to play the game anymore, and I can only imagine how great it would feel for them to bring home the gold to the country that made them who they are today.