Will NHL players be able to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan?

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, an alternative to the NHL All-Star Game, proved to be a resounding success, with higher than expected numbers of viewers tuning in in the United States to watch Team USA do battle with Canada, Sweden and Finland over the space of eight days.

Ultimately, there was disappointment for the Americans, who lost the championship game in overtime to Canada, the world’s No. 1 ranked team, much to the dismay of US President Donald Trump, and the joy of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Nevertheless, the physical and fast-paced nature of the sport appears to have whet the appetite for more. And the good news for ice hockey fans, longstanding and new alike, is the world’s top stars will be returning to play for their countries in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Milan, Italy in February next year, and in the French Alps in February 2030.

Why did the NHL pull its players out of the Winter Olympics?

NHL players previously took part in the Games between 1998 and 2014, by which time winning an Olympic medal had become a major career goal for many.

However, the NHL had other ideas. Unhappy at having to shut down their season to send their highly-paid players to another tournament to play for another team for free, the league failed to extend its agreement with the NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA), the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for 2018.

Further discussions between the parties took place and it looked as if NHL players would return to the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, only for the covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath to get in the way.

The reason NHL players will be back in the Winter Olympics in 2026

However, enough progress towards a reconciliation was made to ensure there will be a comeback at the 2026 Winter Olympics. That’s partly down to the IIHF have agreeing to foot the bill in terms of insurance and travel for the players and their families, and also because it was what players wanted, as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman explains.

“There is a recognition of how important this is to the players, and in the spirit of cooperation -- particularly the work that we did together during covid -- everybody felt on our side that it was the right thing to do. This really came down to doing something because the players really wanted it.”

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