NHL players are going back to the Olympics for best-on-best international hockey according to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Bettman officially announced the news at a press conference in Toronto on Friday.
The news comes in addition to the league setting up its own four-team international tournament for 2025 that will replace next season’s All-Star Weekend. The 2026 Winter Olympics will be the first with NHL players since 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Bettman took the stage to reveal the update with Executive Director of the NHLPA Marty Walsh and IIHF President Luc Tardif.
Gary Bettman: NHL players will participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics.
"We think this is a great stage for the best on best." pic.twitter.com/mVGdGUFLlH
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 2, 2024
“We have an agreement, [with the IIHF] and the International Olympic Committee for NHL players to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics,” Bettman said. “We know how important international competition is to our players. We know how much they love and want to represent the countries of which they’re from. We think this is a great stage for best-on-best in what we obviously believe is the best sport.
“There were a lot of details to work out. I’m thrilled that our three organizations could collaborate as well as they have. We’re looking forward to moving our international agenda forward in a really big way.”
The new deal between the IIHF and the NHL includes the 2026 games in Italy as well as the 2030 games that are likely to be held in the French Alps. The IIHF tweeted confirmation after Bettman’s announcement.
NHL players are back in the Olympic Winter Games!🤩
The IIHF, @nhl and @NHLPA today jointly announced plans for NHL Players to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Winter Games.👏🤝
Read more at https://t.co/ldDBa42X8a ⤵️https://t.co/7xzwzDKG6e pic.twitter.com/7AH8MMDm1y
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) February 2, 2024
There hasn’t been any form of best-on-best international hockey since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Back in August, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly mused about a schedule for NHL players’ future involvement in international competition.
“So if we do a ’25 international tournament, we do the ’26 Olympics, the ’28 World Cup of Hockey, the ’30 Olympics, the ’32 World Cup of Hockey, and so on,” Daly said then. “That’s the goal.”
One of the major questions that will now be posed is how the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee will handle the national teams from Russia and Belarus. Both countries are currently banned from competition due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
For the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, only individual Russian and Belorussian athletes are being allowed to compete as “Individual Neutral Athletes.” Neither country will have any involvement in team events.
“We always said, year by year we will make a decision [on Russia and Belarus],” Tardif said Friday. “Our decision is only a question of security. Next week we are going to have a council meeting and we’re going to make a decision about the future World Championship being held in Sweden and Denmark. So, we will have to answer this question. Is it possible in the geopolitical situation in a safe environment to bring back Russia and Belarus? [That’s] for the coming year.
“After that, for the Olympic Games, the qualification round will come closely. In August, September – Belarus is involved. By the ranking, Russia is already qualified. Can we treat both separately? That’s the question that the council will have to answer. You will know a little bit better next week.”
The 2026 Winter Olympics could be the last chance for Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin to win a highly-coveted gold medal. Ovechkin has long mentioned winning Olympic gold as one of the last things he wants to accomplish in his storied career.
