NHL, NHLPA, IIHF announce the return to the 2026, 2030 Olympics
TORONTO (KDKA) - It's official, NHL players are heading back to the Olympic Games.
At a press conference at the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced an agreement between the league, the NHL Players Association, and the International Ice Hockey Federation to send players back to the 2026 games in Milan and the 2030 games.
"We made it," IIHF president Luc Tardif said. "That's two years of work and more intense the last six months."
NHL players have not been part of the Winter Olympics since the 2014 games in Sochi.
In two successive Olympic Games, Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby captured gold - in 2010 and 2014.
Many fans remember the infamous "Golden Goal" Crosby scored in overtime against Team USA at the Vancouver Olympics.
Players were originally supposed to return to the games in 2022 in Beijing but pandemic-related scheduling issues kept NHL players from participating.
"For years, the players have embraced the opportunity to compete for Olympic gold, and we are excited that today's announcement makes it a certainty for our members in the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Winter Games," said NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh. "We also know that hockey fans worldwide have long been anticipating the next best-on-best international competition, and now they can finally see some of their favorite players represent their countries and line up together."
Along with the Olympics, there have been reports of the NHL bringing back an international tournament, called Four Nations, that will feature the United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden, according to The Athletic's Chris Johnston.
