After weeks of speculation, the National Hockey League and NHLPA are expected to formally announce Wednesday their decision to not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. 

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun said on Insider Trading that while the two sides reached an agreement not to attend on Tuesday, the NHLPA was still completing their process of informing players. 

"It’s not official yet, but sources confirm that the NHL and NHLPA have agreed that they’re not sending players to the Olympics in Beijing as we had suspected now for a few days," LeBrun said. "The reason that it hasn’t been made official yet, we expect that announcement on Wednesday, is that the NHLPA has had to do its own internal process that they’ve been on a number of player calls, and also there’s a matter of the league and the Players’ Association talking to the International Olympic Committee about making this official.

"When it is made official, this is about the NHL pointing to the Olympic agreement with the players and saying that this COVID situation now, the latest wave, has materially impacted this season, obviously, and that’s just not something the NHLPA can object to, based on the way that agreement is written. It’s tough to accept, but it’s reality, and don’t forget the players have as much to worry about in terms of the business of the season with the 50/50 split in revenues, and that’s a point that’s been emphasized as well in the last couple of days."

The league had previously set a Jan. 10 deadline regarding participation at the tournament.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are set to run from Feb. 4 - 20, though TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger noted Tuesday there is still a possibility the Games could be postponed.

 "The IOC and the host committee are certainly not expecting or hoping that. In fact, the IOC was reportedly quoted earlier this month talking about how their intention is to push forward with the Winter Olympics in 2022,” Dreger added on Insider Trading. "But you know what, the NHL and the Players’ Association had a full expectation that they weren’t going to postpone nearly as many games 10 days ago, as they have today. They weren’t expecting or hoping that they were going to have to shut down NHL clubs, but that has turned out to be the reality of the pandemic.

"So, if this is out of the control of the IOC or the host committee in Beijing, and they have no choice because COVID, to postpone for at least one year, then you can bet the NHL and the NHLPA are going to be there and the players who would have loved to represent their country this time around will be happy to do so in a year. Again, not the expectation, not a want of the IOC or the host committee, but COVID remains in control."

Beijing 2022 is set to be the second straight Winter Games the NHL has not been a part of, as the league also elected not send players to 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.

The last time NHL players participated in the Olympics was in 2014 in Sochi, Russia when Canada took home the gold medal.