On Friday, Walsh, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and International Ice Hockey Federation President Luc Tardif announced an agreement that allows NHL players to participate in both the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. The 2026 Games will be staged in Italy, and Bettman said hockey will be played in Nice, France, at the 2030 Games.
“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. We think this is a great stage for best-on-best — the best-on-best — in what, obviously, we all believe is the best sport.”
“We want the best hockey players in the world playing in the Olympics,” Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson, who is the team’s NHLPA representative, said Thursday. “You talk about things on your hockey résumé or throughout your journey, guys, I think — at least from Canada — would be very excited to be able to say, ‘I played in an Olympic Games.’ Little Tom, when he’s a kid, that gets him excited, playing for Team Canada and trying to win a gold medal. I think that speaks for the rest of the guys.”
From the NHL’s standpoint, there were several “big ticket” issues that needed to be resolved for the players to be able to participate, including questions of who will pay for insurance and travel.
“Not us,” Bettman quipped, with a specific focus on making sure any NHL owners who were listening knew the league would not be footing the bill.
“It’s a team effort,” Tardif said. “That’s the most difficult problem. … It’s not possible that the players are not covered. First, that’s the job of IIHF. But that’s a team effort because IOC organization committee helps us in different ways to answer all the questions.”
The NHL’s return to the Olympics wasn’t the only announcement about international hockey Friday. The league also announced it will run a tournament, known as the 4 Nations Face-Off, in February 2025 that will feature the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland. The teams will be made up of NHL players from each country, and the tournament will be staged across two cities, one in Canada and one in the United States.
The NHL’s long-term goal is to have a full-fledged World Cup every four years — giving the league’s players an opportunity for best-on-best competition every two years, between the World Cup and the Olympics — but with a short runway to bring plans together, the initial setup is a four-team tournament next year.
“NHL players are the best players in the world who crave competition and an opportunity to measure their game against their peers’,” Walsh said. “This marks a new era for international hockey, which will start with NHL players from four strong hockey nations competing against one another in a midseason tournament.”
Connor McDavid, who has been one of the NHL’s top players for nearly a decade but has never had the chance to represent Canada in a best-on-best international tournament, couldn’t hide his excitement at the news of both the 4 Nations Face-Off and the return to the Olympics.
“It’s a dream come true,” McDavid said.
