I suspect the NHL wanted a polite way to back out of the Chinese Olympics without pissing off sponsors, China, and fans, so they're faking it with false positive tests.

EDIT: Here's the motive. Needed an excuse to get out of a contract.

While the NHL and NHLPA agreed on Olympic participation last year as part of a collective bargaining agreement extension, the deal to go to Beijing was contingent on pandemic conditions not worsening. A material interruption of the schedule allowed the league to pull out, and the delta and omicron variants spreading across North America not only caused games to be pushed off but made some players hesitant about going to China.

I suspect the NHL wanted a polite way to back out of the Chinese Olympics without pissing off sponsors, China, and fans, so they're faking it with false positive tests.