NHL Announces Plan For Players To Compete In Olympics
Feb 2, 2024, 7:29 PM | Updated: Feb 5, 2024, 11:23 am
TORONTO – NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the National Hockey League has reached an agreement that allows players to compete in the Olympics starting in 2026.
The last time that NHL players competed in the Olympics was at the 2014 Men’s Ice Hockey World Championships in Sochi, Russia.
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Bettman made the announcement at the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend press conference.
“We have an agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for NHL players to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics,” Bettman said.
Due to top NHL players missing time for international play, the NHL and IOC failed to come to an agreement for the 2018 games.
IT’S OFFICIAL! @NHL players will participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics! @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/C3KxeeZzZZ
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 2, 2024
Bettman said that there are still decisions to be made but allowing players to represent their country was a priority.
“We know how important international competition is to our players,” Bettman said. “We know how much they love and want to represent the countries from which they’re from. This is a great stage for the best-on-best.”
Next year, the All-Star weekend will be replaced with the 4 Nations Face-Off. Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States will compete in February 2025.
The NHL will then have an All-Star game in 2026 and switch between the competitions every year.
“There are a lot of details to work out,” Bettman said. “We’re looking forward to moving our international agenda forward in a really big way.”
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Chandler Holt is a co-host for the Jazz Notes podcast and a Digital Sports Producer for KSLSports.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerHoltKSL or on Threads @chandlerho1t.
