February turned into makeup month for the NHL on Wednesday, when the league announced it would not participate in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In wake of rising COVID-19 cases causing a rise in the number of games postponed, the league instead will use Feb. 6-22 to make up those games and any more that might still be postponed.

As of Wednesday, 50 games had been postponed, including five Predators games. The league already had suspended operations until after Christmas because of the recent COVID outbreak that had more than 18% of the league in protocol.

"We have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our Players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. “Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events ... Olympic participation is no longer feasible. We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts. We look forward to Olympic participation in 2026."

All four Predators coaches, along with eight players -- Mark Borowiecki, Nick Cousins, Mikael Granlund, Ryan Johansen, Matt Luff, Michael McCarron, Philip Tomasino and Ben Harpur — were on the list.

Predators coach John Hynes was slated to be an assistant for USA Hockey.

The NHL hasn't participated in the Olympics since 2014.

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Reach Paul Skrbina at pskrbina@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @PaulSkrbina.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: As expected, NHL won't participate in 2022 Olympics after COVID outbreak