If the National Hockey League skips out on the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February, participation in the 2022 Games in Beijing is no guarantee, says International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel.

"If the NHL doesn't come to Korea, they can't just go to China," Fasel told Russian journalist Igor Eronko. "Negotiations will be much different."

Fasel's remark comes on the heels of comments from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday, saying that "people should assume" the league and its players would not be participating in the Olympics.

"There are no negotiations ongoing," Bettman said. "We were open to having discussions on a variety of things that might mitigate the damage to our season but that had no resonance. As things stand now people should assume we are not going."

The IIHF and the NHL are two of the four parties that will determine whether or not NHL players will go to Korea. The International Olympic Committee and the National Hockey League Players Association are also involved in the matter.

Thomas Bach, the IOC president, met with the NHL in New York in February and said he would defer to the other three parties on the matter.

TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie said on Monday the sides likely have two to three weeks left to negotiate before the final deadline is met with the first game scheduled for February 9.

There has been a vocal contingent of NHL player expressing their interest in going to the Games with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews among them.