For the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games, the NHL is allowing its players to participate in the Winter Olympic men's hockey tournament in Beijing next February.

National pride and gold-medal glory are on the line for the best players in the world -- provided they actually make it to China. Concerns about COVID-19 protocols -- and a potential overseas quarantine of five weeks if participants test positive with symptoms -- has that participation less than certain around two months before the tournament starts.

There's a chance Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid could be the faces of Team Canada; and there's a chance it could be Ryan Spooner and Eric Fehr if they have to go with "Plan B."

Let's hope they stick with "Plan A." If they do, hockey fans are in for an epic best-on-best tournament.

Here's a projection for the six hockey superpowers' rosters -- the United States, Canada, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland -- along with a look at other star hockey players in the Winter Olympics. Assuming the NHL participates, that is.