NHL will allow players to compete in 2026 Olympics
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 Winter Games in 2026 in Milan and in 2030 under an agreement announced Friday by the NHL, NHL Players’ Association, International Ice Hockey Federation and the IOC.
NHL players have not been at the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi
Milan, barring another unforeseen circumstance like the pandemic that caused players to miss Beijing in 2022, will be the first Olympics for a generation of stars led by Canadians Connor Mcdavid, Nathan Mackinnon and Cale Makar and Americans Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Adam Fox. The tantalizing rosters could see the likes of Mcdavid, Crosby and Connor Bedard on the same team battling for gold.
The NHL paused its season for the Olympics five times from 1998 through 2014, and most of the players now in the league grew up expecting to play on that stage. Disagreements over who would pay for insurance and travel costs, the time difference between South Korea and North America were cited as factors in the NHL passing on Pyeongchang in 2018.
It remains to be seen if Russia will be allowed to participate in 2026. The IOC is allowing individual athletes from the country to compete under a neutral flag but banned Russians from team competitions at the 2024 Games in Paris.
The Russians — playing as the Olympic Athletes from Russia — took home Olympic gold in 2018 with a stacked roster including former Detroit Red Wings winger Pavel Datsyuk and current Minnesota Wild All-star Kirill Kaprizov.
Finland is now the defending Olympic champion after winning in Beijing.