Adedokun Waliyu 
IIHF President Luc Tarif, NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speak with the media on February 2, 2024 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
IIHF President Luc Tarif, NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speak with the media on February 2, 2024 at the Scotiabank Arena.
The National Hockey League’s return to participation in the Winter Olympics in 2026 and 2030 highlight the return to the international stage of the top hockey players in the world in the next several years.
First, there will be the 4 Nations Face-Off, an event that will include Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland next winter in two cities — one in Canada and one in the U.S. — to be determined.
“It means a lot,” Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews said. “Any time you can represent your country, it’s a big honour. On the world stage with the Olympics or the Four Nations, competing against the best players in the NHL and their respective countries, it will be great for the players and great for the sport and the fans will really enjoy it.”
The international schedule, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday, would include a World Cup in 2028 and another in 2032.
“That’s the cycle we want to get on,” Bettman said. “It’s a major undertaking to do an international competition on relatively short notice and we’re only about a year out (from the 4 Nations Face-Off).
“The notion was, let’s do a little bit of international competition as a bit of an appetizer.”
Why just four nations for the tournament next year?
“We understood the anxiety and anxiousness of everybody to get started and understanding both the schedule we were working on and that the ink is still drying on the Olympic agreement that was signed this morning,” Bettman said. “We felt that we wanted to do something, but we couldn’t get ready in a year for a full-blown World Cup. This gets us started.”
The tournament will consist of a total of seven games from Feb. 12-20. In turn, there will be no NHL all-star game next season. And no, Russia will not be part of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“I think we have been pretty open about the fact that we don’t condone or support the aggression in Ukraine,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “But we support our Russian players and we certainly don’t hold what’s going on geopolitically against our individual Russian players. We thought given the totality of the circumstances, where the IOC is, where the IIHF is, it probably was not the right time to include the Russians as a team.”
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby arrived in Toronto after spending some down time in Montana and said the NHL’s return to the Olympics “is great news.”
“With all the uncertainty that has been around it in years prior, and how great of an experience it is, it’s awesome news,” Crosby said. “I’m sure that a lot of players are really happy. And especially to commit to two different Olympics, that will be great.
“To see the best players go head-to-head, representing their country, from my experience in it (winning gold with Canada in 2010 and 2014), I don’t know if you get better hockey than that.”
Marty Walsh isn’t thrilled with the ongoing saga that is the Arizona Coyotes.
The executive director of the NHL Players’ Association sounded off on the Coyotes ownership and the arena situation. As the club looks for a permanent home, it is playing out of the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena at Arizona State University on a three-year agreement that expires after the 2024-25 season.
“I have serious concerns about Arizona,” Walsh said. “I’m extremely disappointed in the ownership (Alex Meruelo) of Arizona.
“You can talk about buying land in Arizona (for a new rink), and it could be 10 years before a shovel goes in the ground. That’s unacceptable on behalf of the players on that team and it should be unacceptable to the league.”
Would Walsh be in favour of a Coyotes move, to, for example, Utah for next season?
“If there is no plan in Arizona, I would encourage a move to another location,” Walsh said. “Absolutely. The players want to play in a NHL arena. I’ve had more than several conversations now with them.
“The issue I have, and the players have, is how long do you wait to get a home? They are playing in a college arena, they are second tenant in that arena. I just think this is not the way — and I am not criticizing the league for this, this is the team — to run a business.”
We’d imagine the NHL would prefer that little happens news-wise during the all-star break so all of the attention could be on the festivities in Toronto, but business must continue.
So it went on Friday, when the Los Angeles Kings fired coach Todd McLellan and the Montreal Canadiens traded centre Sean Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets.
After an excellent start — 20 wins in 31 games — the Kings lost eight in a row and went into the break with three wins in their past nine games. The struggles have dropped the Kings to the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference.
Jim Hiller, who had been an assistant on McLellan’s staff, has been named interim head coach of the Kings for the remainder of the season.
The Jets’ acquisition of Monahan, who had 35 points in 49 games with Montreal, took another coveted player off the trade board weeks before the March 8 NHL trade deadline. It came two days after the Vancouver Canucks acquired centre Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames.
Winnipeg sent a first-round pick in the 2024 draft to the Canadiens along with a conditional third-round pick in the 2027 draft.
