With the start of the 4-Nations Face-Off just hours away, it seems the NHL is already establishing plans to deepen their international footprint. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh have plans to announce the a 2028 World Cup of Hockey tournament that’d split games between North America and Europe, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The World Cup will be a mid-season tournament scheduled over the usual All-Star Break, like the 4-Nations Face-Off. LeBrun adds that this news sets up international, best-on-best hockey every two years until 2036 – with hope for a timeline that includes the Winter Olympics in 2026, 2030, and 2034; and the World Cup in 2028, 2032, and 2036.
Perhaps more exciting is the return to the name ’World Cup’, suggesting that more countries will be involved than the four represented at the 4-Nations tournament. This would inevitably require the involvement of professional leagues around the world, as neither Czechia nor Slovakia have enough NHL players to staff an NHL-exclusive roster.
The naming of a worldwide tournament will also lead to the eventual question of Russia’s involvement. The country has been expelled from international play since the 2021 World Championship, where they fell to Team Canada in the quarterfinals. The IIHF recently reviewed Russia and Belarus’ eligibility for international competition but chose to maintain the expulsion through the 2025-26 season due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Hall-of-Famer Pavel Bure was chosen to represent Russia in recent conversations with the IIHF and, citing concerns over player safety, shared that Russia would be willing to finance additional security if it meant allowing, “fans across the planet to watch one of the world’s best teams in action again.”
The IIHF’s decision will only apply to events they sanction – that decision only applies to IIHF-sanctioned events, and both the NHL and International Olympics Committee will still need to make their own decisions on whether Russia should play in their events. The NHL moving towards potentially biannual meetings between national clubs sets up an inevitable, and potentially precarious decision on Russia’s eligibility.
As much as I like international tournaments, this seems like overkill.
Find a way to do these in the summer or just stop it.
Also, if you want Russians back in these tournaments, fine, but they have to play for Team Ukraine.
Oh, what’s that? They don’t want their lives or national pride hijacked for someone else’s glory?
Get in line.
So the players should be collateral damage for a decision made by Putin?
So, are you saying that people and their lives being collateral damage for a decision made by Putin is a bad thing?
I’m not a big fan of these mid-season exhibition tournaments. There is just too much risk of players getting injured & all sorts of things that could affect their NHL team. The NHL seems a little too hooked on these “special events” rather than focusing on the regular season. Is the NHL trying to be a special event league rather than an actual sport’s league or something. These tournaments should be played during the summer not during the NHL season IMO.
Honestly I’m more interested in the trade deadline than the 4 Nations tournament.
The players need a better union boss!!!!!!!
They’ve joined the AFL-CIO, so that should be a hoot.
I’m amazed that the announcers on SiriusXM NHL radio are a pair of show hosts. Were no professional broadcasters available?
A world cup is better than this 4 nations thing, but it should be played in late June, early July to allow guys some rest to get ready and recovered for the next season. I understand the Olympics are played at this time, but that can be an exception as opposed to the norm. And the NHL can still host an All-star event at that time to promote “their game”. Don’t need a common interruption of 10 days+ during the regular season. Especially for an event that some players will get up for and give a full effort for international pride when it could be done after the Stanley Cup or free agency commences and avoid affecting their clubs.
How are people gonna feel if a McDavid, MacKinnon, Hedman, Matthews, ect suffers a season ending injury at this 4 nation’s faceoff and could cost them a potential Cup run?
I’d prefer it to be in September. Players in the tournament can use it as their pre-season and at least if an injury did occur, a team would get them back at some point in the season. An injury now could potentially bleed into the playoffs (not good).
Another thing that puzzles me about this 4 Nations tournament. If they’re using the international rules for the standings and OT, why not allow teams to dress 20 skaters on the roster too like in IIHF? This would help in cases like tonight with Theodore having to leave the game.