It’s been a dirty dozen years since NHL players took part in the Olympics, but our long international nightmare is almost over.
After a drought that kept most of world’s best hockey players — and several all-time greats — out of the Games since 2014, the 2026 men’s tournament in Milan-Cortina should be one for the ages. In an Olympics that doesn’t boast a plethora of big names, the ice will provide some serious star wattage.
The NHL is pausing its season for three weeks as many of its top (non-Russian) skaters and goalies do battle in Italy. When the first puck drops February 11 in Milan, it will launch the most anticipated international hockey event since the Obama administration. And, really, the marquee event of the Games.
It’s a big opportunity for the NHL and the world’s fastest sport — both of which are having a moment. There’s growing interest around the planet, fueled by the league’s serious international push, last year’s thrilling and widely watched Four Nations tournament and, of course, TV’s wildly popular Heated Rivalry. More on that later, we promise.
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Four Nations was for NHL players only and was a rather unexpected sensation, but it included only the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden. So this Olympics will be the men’s hockey’s first “best-on-best” faceoff since the 2014 Sochi Games, meaning many of the greatest players in the game will be representing their countries as adults for the first time. That’s a really big deal — for them and for those who love the game.
Most of the 12-team men’s tourney rosters are stacked. The squad from hockey-mad Canada will suit up Connor McDavid, the world’s most dominant player of the past decade and among the best ever to lace up skates. He’ll be teamed with such stone-cold superstars as Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mitch Marner and breakout teenager Macklin Celebrini. Two of the Great White North’s players — future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty — are among the handful of NHL Olympians who were around for the 2014 Games; both, in fact, also played in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers are in the thick of the NHL playoff race, but playing for the Maple Leaf on the world’s biggest stage for the first time in a decade certainly has his attention. “It’s the biggest sporting event in the world, and to do it together with 25 of Canada’s best hockey players, it’s a dream come true, it really is,” he told NHL. com recently. “I know everybody feels the same way, and we’re just looking for the opportunity to go over and play.”
Team USA is equally formidable, with such stars as brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel and Connor Hellebuyck, who has won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender the past two years. He even won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP last season — one of only eight goalies to pull that off since the award was launched in 1924.
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But unlike many past international tournaments, this one won’t necessarily be The Battle of North America. Euro archrivals Finland and Sweden are loaded with NHL All-Stars: The Finns have Mikko Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen and Sebastian Aho, and Swedes include William Nylander, Victor Hedman and Jesper Bratt. At least three other countries and their pro standouts have at least a shot at a medal as well: The Czech Republic — officially called Czechia at these Games — is powered by David Pastrnak and Tomáš Hertl; Switzerland with Nico Hischier, Kevin Fiala and Timo Meyer; and Germany, which boasts Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stützle.
(L-R) Germany’s Leon Draisaitl, Czechia’s David Pastrnak, Switzerland’s Kevin Fiala and Slovakia’s Erik Cernak
Getty Images
But there is an elephant missing from the room. Russia has been banned from Olympic team competitions since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, meaning several Hall of Fame-bound players won’t be on the ice. Sidelined are such all-timers as Alexander Ovechkin, who last year broke Wayne Gretzky’s “unbreakable” 30-year-old NHL record for most career goals. Also watching from home will be the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin and two of the world’s finest goalies in Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin.
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Meanwhile, the sport certainly gained some heat in recent months as Jacob Tierney’s Crave/HBO Max series Heated Rivalry has taken global audiences by storm. A steamy TV adaptation of Rachel Reid’s homoerotic Game Changer romantasy hockey novels, it follows two rival pro players who battle on the ice but have an intimate relationship off it.
While female and LGBTQ audiences are hooked on the show’s depictions of love and sex, the success has seemingly translated to the sport, as the NHL has experienced a spike in ticket sales since the show launched around Thanksgiving. And TikTok has rebranded hockey rinks as “boy aquariums.”
With the acclaimed show renewed for Season 2, Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie is slated to host Saturday Night Live in late February. He and co-lead Hudson Williams will carry the Olympic torch in Italy after presenting at the Golden Globes in January. Meanwhile, their co-star François Arnaud has called on the league to do better about showing its support for the LGBTQ community.
Still, the publicity has been plentiful for and welcomed by the NHL and the hockey world. And there’s also the Letterkenny spinoff Shoresy, which follows a senior-league hockey squad led by its title character, a explicit, notorious uber-chirper. It recently was renewed for a sixth season on Hulu, ahead of its Season 5 premiere.
Also boosting the sport’s international profile is the NHL’s Global Series, which has put regular-season games in such offshore markets as Finland, Sweden, England and Czechia. The league has been courting non-North American fans for decades, starting with the first in-season game played in Tokyo in 1997. Several seasons during the 2010s began with overseas games, and every non-Covid season since 2017-18 has launched in a foreign land.
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So the world stage is set for what should be an epic and competitive tournament. Preliminary-round games run February 11-15, with each team playing the others in its group, followed by a playoff on February 17 and the medal round. The biggest early matchup certainly is Finland vs. Sweden on February 13, with the neighboring nations mired in the same Group B.
A champion will be crowned in the gold medal game February 22 at Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, airing on NBC in the U.S. Speaking of that venue, NHL execs, players, media and even fans have been sweating out construction delays that has called its readiness into question for months. The rink itself is ready, by most accounts, but the arena itself is still being worked on. The arena already is being tested, as the women’s hockey tournament is underway. That one isn’t likely to be as competitive, with the unfriendly rivals from Team Canada and Team USA expected to battle for gold on February 19 at Santagiulia.
That distraction aside, evidence of the sheer anticipation of the 2026 Olympic tournament is evident. The fervent hockey media has been abuzz about it for several months — which is telling during what has been one of the most competitive and exciting seasons in memory.
Note to casual fans who were wowed by the three wild fights in the first 10 seconds of the Four Nations final between Canada and Team USA: The Olympics are played under international rules, which strictly prohibit fisticuffs.
Glenn Garner contributed to this report.