NHL Players Will Participate In Olympics For First Time Since 2014

 

FILE - Russia forward Pavel Datsyuk and USA forward Ryan Kesler face off to start a men's ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. NHL players are returning to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade. The world's top hockey league will allow its players to participate in the Games in 2026 in Milan and in 2030 under an agreement announced Friday by the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, International Ice Hockey Federation and the IOC

The National Hockey League is sending players to the 2026 Olympics in Milan, marking the league’s first participation in the games since the 2014 Olympics in Sochi after cost- and pandemic-related snags in 2018 and 2022.

League Commissioner Gary Betttman confirmed at a Friday press conference in Toronto the league would be participating in both the 2026 games in Milan and the 2030 games, which are poised to take place in the French Alps.

It’ll mark a long-awaited return for the North American league, which declined to allow its players to participate in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea—the NHL must pause its regular season to allow its players to compete in the Olympics and was unwilling to do so.

The league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association in 2020 would have allowed players to participate in 2022 and 2026, but the league backed out of the Beijing Games in 2022 after the Covid-19 pandemic hampered much of the NHL regular season that year.

USA Hockey celebrated the announcement with a video on X Friday with highlights from NHL players’ key moments in past Olympics games—led by T.J. Oshie’s iconic shootout performance that lifted Team USA over Russia in 2014.

As part of a new agreement between the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Olympics Committee (IOC), the IIHF and other Olympics organizing committees will be charged with paying NHL players’ insurance and travel costs for participating in the games—addressing a sticking point in past negotiations over the NHL’s participation.

SURPRISING FACT

The league also announced it will host the “4 Nations Face-Off” next February, an in-season tournament between four teams featuring NHL players representing the U.S., Canada, Finland or Sweden.

KEY BACKGROUND

Often regarded as the top hockey league in the world, the NHL had players participate in five consecutive Olympics from 1998 until 2014. Historically, the IOC has shouldered a portion of the league’s insurance and travel costs, given the fact that the league has to pause its regular season to participate. But ahead of the 2018 Olympics, the IOC declined to continue doing so. The IIHF reportedly offered to shoulder the cost, but negotiations fell through and the league pulled out. For the U.S., the league’s decision to pull back in 2018 and 2022 forced Team USA to assemble a roster of former NHL players, college players and players from other leagues. The team finished in seventh out of 12 teams in 2018 and fifth in 2022.

BIG NUMBER

11. That’s how many medals the U.S. men’s hockey team has won, including two golds in 1980 and 1960. The most recent medal was in 2010, when the team earned a silver medal.

TANGENT

The Winter Olympics are on track to return to the U.S. in 2034, as the International Olympic Committee has named Salt Lake City, Utah a “preferred host” to those games.