Brad Marchand rips the NHL over Olympic participation.

If you thought every player in the National Hockey League was on board with simply cancelling the Olympics, guess again.

On Sunday notorious Boston Bruins agitator Brad Marchand was once again stirring the pot, although this time his ire was directed not at an opposing team but at the NHL itself. Marchand, clearly unhappy about the fact that he will not be allowed to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China, let his feelings on the matter be known when he commented on it publicly.

"It's very disappointing," said Marchand on Sunday. "You know that's something that was promised and part of the [collective bargaining agreement] when we last signed our deal. I almost felt like they were trying to get out of it for a while, and they didn't want us to go."

Marchand appears to believe that, given the negotiations that took place last time, there should be a way for players that want to participate to do just that.

"There should be something in place, or put in place, where we should be able to go and experience that. You know guys work their entire lives..."

It seemed as though talking about how hard he worked for the opportunity to attend stirred something within Marchand, because he simply went off on the NHL after making those comments.

"I know that at the end of the day they really don't care about the Olympics, they don't make money on it. And ultimately that's what this is , it's a business and we're an asset, let's just call a spade a spade. They don't wanna risk us getting hurt over there and that's obviously part of it, but it should be the players' option to go play in the tournament, it's the Olympics, the best of the best, and if you've earned the right and you've earned the opportunity to go there you should have the option to go play."

Marchand summarized his thoughts by arguing that the amount of work put into getting an Olympic spot should give the players the right to choose if they want to take the risk or not.

"It's extremely disappointing that the players aren't going, again I think guys have worked their entire lives to put themselves in the position to compete at that level and get the opportunity and it should be the guys decision whether they choose to go or not regardless of what's happening in the world."