The NHL reached an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation last Friday that will allow players from the National Hockey League to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

The 17-game hiatus from NHL action will replace the NHL All Star Game and the festivities that it entails. It will also allow the collection of international players in the league to represent their country in the XXII Winter Games. With 12 teams in the Olympic tournament, approximately 120 NHL players are expected to represent those teams.

The break in the NHL schedule starts February 9 and lasts until the 26th of the month. The elite players in the NHL will be on display during the Olympic tournament, but there will always be some who oppose the idea of professional athletes participating in traditionally amateur competition.

Here are my pros and cons of NHL players in the Olympics. First, the pros:

1) Intensity-Let’s face it, replacing the All Star break with a super-intense winner take all international tournament is awesome. Other than the weird times that the games come on, every game is a really, really intense all star game.

2) Quality of Play-With professional players in the game on a bigger ice surface and in mid-season form you have ice hockey at it’s absolute best.

3) Patriotism-In case you were looking for another reason to hate or love a player, your allegiance to country will certainly embellish emotion in either direction.

4) Recovery time-For players that won’t be on any Olympic team, this two and a half week period provides a significant period to recover from any nagging or lingering injuries.

5) Condensed Schedule-Double edged sword here. With a long break there will be more games pressed together to keep the season manageable. The other side of this is that there will be more injuries with the games closer together.

Cons

1) Extended break can be disruptive-For teams or players that are particularly hot, a 17-day break. When you have momentum built and you’re on a roll, the last thing you want to do is go on an extended lunch break. The chemistry of a team can be just as important as any other characteristic. With chemistry comes the timing and confluence of talent that can make good teams great.

2) Injuries-With the intensity of the Olympic tournament at such a high level, injuries are bound to happen. It’s part of the game and everyone accepts that, but it would suck for a team to lose their best player while on international duty.

3) Confused allegiance-When you are a fan of a team, chances are one of team’s players will join forces with a hated rival to win a gold medal. How is the NHL or hockey fan supposed to discern the emotions of cheering for nation or team or player? There is no chance that the USA men’s team will be represented entirely of players I like on teams that I cheer for. Conversely, almost the entire Detroit Red Wings roster hails from Russia or Scandinavian nations while their coach, Mike Babcock, will be behind the bench of Team Canada. Such a pile of emotions to deal with next February.

So there are the pros and cons. In short, I’m a fan of all hockey. The opportunity to see the mega-talented stars play with one another under a single flag means that there will be maximum effort in every game. You’ll see the dream line combinations that only EA Sports can provide on your game console. Sidney Crosby centering Steven Stamkos and Claude Giroux going up against Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin. Yeah, I’m in.