![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2194640884.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLuke Hales\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Vegas Golden Knights hope to keep Jack Eichel from reaching NHL Free Agency in 2026.<\/p>\n
Apparently, nobody informed the weather gods that NHL games will resume this week after the Olympic break<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harsh conditions are pummeling the East Coast this week, with Winter Storm Hernando being categorized as a bomb cyclone by The Weather Channel<\/a>. Thirty million people are under blizzard warnings, according to CNN<\/a>. That means travel bans are in place for both land and air as snow and wind impact more than five states.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a heck of a time for the NHL to return from its February hiatus.<\/p>\n The 2025-26 schedule is set to resume on Wednesday on both coasts. But with travel suspended on the Eastern seaboard, will players be able to rejoin their teams in time for opening faceoffs?<\/p>\n Uncertainty for NHL Players on Team USA<\/p>\n TSN\u2019s Darren Dreger<\/a> posted to the X platform early Monday to say there was concern over when players on Team USA would rejoin their teams following their 2-1 overtime win against Team Canada on Sunday. Dreger\u2019s initial report revolved around players wanting to accept an invitation to the White House on Tuesday, although the weather may be an even bigger issue.<\/p>\n Travel already caused the team\u2019s plane to be rerouted to Florida<\/a> to avoid the blizzard. That\u2019s not-so-bad news for Team USA captain Auston Matthews, who is expected to rejoin the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> in Tampa on Wednesday to face the Lightning.<\/p>\n NHLers traveling West? It\u2019s a whole other story.<\/p>\n The Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/a> reported Monday that the Vegas Golden Knights don\u2019t know when Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin will rejoin the team. The Knights visit the Los Angeles Kings<\/a> on Wednesday, and nationwide travel delays could still loom large.<\/p>\n Unknowns for Olympians on Other NHL Teams<\/p>\n Speaking of the Golden Knights\u2019 tilt with the Kings, even more NHL players could be delayed returning from the Olympics. Vegas could be the most impacted, with Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore, and Mark Stone all representing Team Canada and potentially delayed by the weather. The Kings expect to have Adrian Kempe back on the ice after his Olympic journey with Team Sweden. However, LAKingsInsider.com<\/a> reports it\u2019s unclear if veteran defenseman Drew Doughty, who represented Team Canada, will be available.<\/p>\n Speaking of Team Canada: The San Jose Mercury News<\/a> reported Monday that San Jose Sharks winger Pavol Regenda was stuck in New York due to the blizzard. (Regenda competed for Slovakia at the Winter Games. ) Center and first-time Team Canada representative Macklin Celebrini \u201cwill likely soon be back in San Jose,\u201d although there was no diffiinitve time table.<\/p>\n With plenty of other NHLers still trying to make their way home, hockey fans will just have to keep an eye on when the weather will let them reunite with their teams.<\/p>\n NHL Representation at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/p>\n The NHL returned to the Winter Games in 2026 after sitting out two consecutive Olympics. NHL players were kept off rosters for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang due to disagreements over costs between the NHL and the International Olympic Committee. Players from the NHL didn\u2019t participate in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing because of a league-wide COVID-19 outbreak<\/a>.<\/p>\n In its return to the international stage, the NHL sent 147 players<\/a> to the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tChelena Goldman<\/a> Chelena is a San Francisco-based sports writer and reporter covering multiple sports for heavy.com. The former NHL.com and NBC Sports writer spent 11 years covering the San Jose Sharks, while also covering sporting events locally and internationally. Her other major credits include CBS Sports and Athlon. More about Chelena Goldman<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NHL\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Hales\/Getty Images The Vegas Golden Knights hope to keep Jack Eichel from reaching NHL Free Agency in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-500245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}