The NHL says it will be back in the Olympics and will play in Milan in 2026.
There are people in the NHL who are more excited than anyone else about going to the Olympics in 2026 and 2030.
Five times, NHL players have taken part in the Olympics: in Nagano in 1998, Salt Lake City in 2002, Turin in 2006, Vancouver in 2010, and Sochi in 2014.
Think about Connor McDavid. He might be the best player in the world. The center for the Edmonton Oilers is 27 years old, but he was never able to play for Canada in the Olympics and the World Cup.
In Sochi in 2014, the last time a player from the NHL went to the Winter Olympics, he was 17 years old, which is too young.
The last NHL World Cup of Hockey was in Toronto in 2016. He played for Team North America, which was made up of players from Canada as well as the US who were 23 years old or younger.
Next season, the NHL will hold a 2025 NHL 4 Nations Face-Off as opposed to the All-Star Game. From February 12–20, teams from Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States will play in one Canadian city and one American city.
In 2026, the NHL will hold the All-Star Game to send players to compete in the Olympics in Milan. After that, every two years, the World Cup for Hockey will be held instead of the Olympics.
International hockey between the best teams is back. When the news came out at Scotiabank Arena in Friday during the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend, McDavid said it was like a dream come true.
“I’ve been vocal regarding this,” he told me. As we try to grow the game at home and around the world, I think it’s important for hockey. It seems good to me. People may be looking forward to the schedule because it’s fun.
It was part of a dream for the players, but it was a problem for the owners. They were ending their season so that they could send the players to another tournament.
When the Olympics were held outside of North America, there were a lot of risks with few or no rewards.
Unfortunately, NHL players did not go to PyeongChang 2018 because the NHL could not agree with the NHLPA, the IIHF, and the IOC.
The pandemic messed up the seasons for 2019–20 and 2020–21. To get through it, the NHL as well as the NHLPA had to work together.
They agreed to travel to the Olympics in Beijing in 2022 and Milan in 2026 if they could also make deals with the IOC as well as the IIHF.
Because of the pandemic, the NHL had to drop out of the 2022 Olympics. But the seed had been sown for years after 2026. “… This came down to doing something as the players wanted it.”
“There is a recognition of how crucial this is to the players, as well as the spirit of cooperation – particularly the job that we did together throughout COVID — everybody thought on our side who it was the right thing to do,” NHL Chief Gary Bettman said.
It was agreed on Friday that NHL players will be able to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2026 in Milan and in 2030.
That’s because the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation, and the IOC are all hockey organizations.
At a news conference over All-Star Weekend, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “People know how important this matter is to the players.”
“On our sides, everyone thought it was the correct thing to do… It came down to getting something done because the players wanted it so badly.
“Being honest about how great it is and how uncertain things have been in the past, I think it’s great news, and I’m sure a lot of people are really happy,” Sidney Crosby, star of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Canada, said. “And I think it’ll be great if you can commit to both of the Olympics.”
Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, and Adam Fox are some of the stars who will be going to their first Olympics.
If nothing else unexpected comes up, like the pandemic that kept players from going to Beijing in 2022, Milan will be their first Olympics.
It’s possible that McDavid, Crosby, and Connor Bedard could all be on the same team competing for gold.