NHL players will be returning to the Winter Olympics for the 2026 and 2030 tournaments, the league announced Friday as part of a joint agreement with the NHL Players Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee.
Speaking to reporters during NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that players will be allowed to participate for the first time since the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“We know how important international competition is to our players,” Bettman said. "We know how much they love and want to represent their countries from which they're from, and we think this is a great stage for the best-on-best.