NHL season takes international flavor with 4-Nation Challenge as Winter Olympics appetizer

Nico Hischier grew up in Switzerland with the dream of playing in the Winter Olympics.

“I’ve never experienced this,” he said.

The countdown continues for Hischier, who hopes to join the team NHL’s best at Milan Olympics This season ushers in a long-awaited comeback after the NHL has not allowed its players to participate in the Olympics since 2014.

Hischier and the New Jersey Devils open the season in Prague against the Buffalo Sabers, with two more games to be played in Finland this fall and 4 Nations Facing is the four-team February appetizer for the main event, where the league and its players embrace hockey’s international roots.

“Our players have a history and tradition of representing their country, whether it be world juniors or world championships – leaving the Olympics aside.” Commissioner Gary Bettman he told the Associated Press last month. “We are the most international of the four major North American sports. “There’s no doubt about that and there’s no doubt about how our players feel about representing their country.”

The IIHF men’s world championship is held during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the last two Winter Olympics have been held without NHL players. The last time the sport’s best played in the same tournament was the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and even that carried an asterisk because of the format that shifted the U.S. and Canada’s stars 23 and under to Team North America. He formed the European Team by combining players from Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany and other countries.

Never before have Americans Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Patrick Kane and Adam Fox (let alone the country’s elite goalkeepers) had the opportunity to play together internationally. The same goes for Canadians Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

The initial idea was to host a World Cup in the winter of 2024, but Russia’s war in Ukraine complicated planning and forced the postponement of the event. The result was a 4-Nation Match played by the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. in Montreal and Boston Instead of All-Star festivities.

“You can call it a mini World Cup if you want.” NHL Players Association Executive Director Marty Walsh he told the AP. “That’s what people talk about, especially when we think about going into the 2026 Olympics: a tournament where the best are the best. It’s happening, that’s why we’re doing all this. It creates momentum.”

Walsh, former US labor secretary Having previously served as mayor of Boston, he sensed the excitement among fans in his hometown who eagerly awaited the Bruins’ downtown games throughout the summer.

The 4-Nation Challenge was announced last All-Star Weekend at the same time as the agreement to send players to the next two Olympics, including France in 2030. This eases the pain of players from other countries not being included this year.

“They’ve signed deals for two Olympics, NHL players, I guess you can consider that as a little plus,” Bruins Czech winger David Pastrnak said. “They signed the Olympics. “With the Olympic agreement, I can already look there.”

Until an agreement was reached with the IIHF and IOC, Olympic participation was part of a collective bargaining agreement extension in 2020, when the league and union negotiated ending the season amid the pandemic. The players, many of whom grew up in a generation where Olympic participation was the norm, were upset they couldn’t travel to South Korea in 2018, and scheduling issues put South Korea in a difficult position. NHL to forego trip to Beijing in 2022 almost at the last minute.

Bettman said that after the 2026 and 2030 Olympics agreement was announced, some players contacted him and expressed how excited they were to play on that stage.

“It was all about the players wanting the best, representing their country and having the opportunity to play on teams with players they wouldn’t normally get the chance to play with,” Bettman said. “Yes, going to the Olympics is uncomfortable, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Bettman said construction of hockey rinks in Milan is back on schedule, which is a relief after some concerns.

But there are more than 1,000 games to be played before the next Olympics. The majority of the games will be played in North America, but attention will also turn to the Devils-Sabres games in Prague on Friday and Saturday, followed by the Dallas Stars. NHL champion Florida Panthers We play twice in Tampere, Finland in November.

The long-term plan is to move to a biennial calendar with the World Cup of Hockey in 2028 and ’32, increasing hockey’s footprint with those tournaments and Global Series games in Europe.

“We have a pretty busy international schedule throughout the season,” said Walsh. “This shouldn’t be a one-off. You should do these events, but how do you gain momentum from them?”