NHL returning to Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey is coming back too

Today marks a big day for NHL fans craving to see best-on-best hockey.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has announced that the NHL will be participating in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. The 2026 Games are set to be hosted in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, while 2030 event will be hosted in Nice, France.

The NHL hasn’t been to the Olympics since 2014.

Gary Bettman on the NHL players going to the Olympics in 2026 and 2030:

“We know how important international competition is to our players… we’re looking forward to moving forward our international agenda in a really big way.” pic.twitter.com/06k2r76UE6

— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) February 2, 2024

While it remains to be seen what will happen for the 2030 event, the 2026 Winter Olympics will be played on NHL-sized ice, rather than the usual Olympic surface. Meanwhile, a decision on whether or not Russians will be allowed to compete at the 2026 Olympics will be made at a future date.

NHL bringing back World Cup of Hockey too

Additionally, the World Cup of Hockey will be coming back in 2028 and 2032. This tournament, which was last played in 2016, was the last best-on-best event NHL players participated in. It was an eight-team format featuring Canada, USA, Czechia, Europe (all Europeans who didn’t have their country featured), Sweden, Russia, Finland, and the 23-and-under North American team. The Canadians went on to win Gold, defeating Team Europe in a best-of-three final series.

New Four Nations tournament debuts next year

Bettman also announced that there will be a Four Nations Face-Off tournament in 2025, with the host cities believed to be Montreal and Boston. It will feature four countries: Canada, United States, Finland, and Sweden.

The tournament will take place from February 12 through February 20, in place of the All-Star break.

NHL & NHLPA officially announce “Four Nations Faceoff” next February in Montreal and Boston — Canada vs Finland vs Sweden vs United States

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 2, 2024

The Four Nations Face-Off will have a total of seven games played over the nine days. Each of the four teams will have 23-man rosters, which must be included of players under NHL contract for the 2024-25 season. There will be six players from each team announced this summer, while the remaining 17 will be named at a later date.

Because of how long it has been since the NHL has had a best-on-best format, hockey fans have yet to see Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid play on the same team. Though it took far longer than anyone would have wished, we will all finally get to see the two suit up on the same side.

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