Fervor for international best-on-best hockey has never been louder. Fans are hooked following the success of last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off and this year’s Winter Olympics, which featured the return of NHL players for the first time in 12 years.
The revived World Cup of Hockey, which has not been played since 2016, will bolster the international competition schedule when it returns in 2028. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh announced the reinstatement right before the puck dropped in Montreal for the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off.
The league revealed on Monday that the eight-nation tournament will be played in Canada and Czechia.
NHL players have been thrilled to return to international best-on-best competition—something they’ve been pushing for inside the NHLPA—but there’s been one notable omission. International hockey has iced out Russia from global competitions since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia, along with Belarus, is currently banned from all events hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation, which is the global governing body for the sport. It has not been able to participate in major international hockey events in which the IIHF is involved: most notably the Winter Olympics, but also the World Championship as well as the World Junior Championship, a premier competition for top prospects.
The World Cup of Hockey, however, is not associated with the IIHF, and is instead a joint event between the NHL and NHLPA. It does not have to follow IIHF guidelines, and can make its own decision on Russia, which touts the fourth-most NHL players behind Canada, the U.S., and Sweden. Debate has swirled as to whether a global tournament can truly be considered a “best-on-best” event without Russia on the ice.
At NHL GM meetings in Florida this week, Bettman indicated he hasn’t yet made a decision on whether Russia will be welcomed into the 2028 World Cup of Hockey fold. “We’re going to see how things develop. Time will tell,” he said Monday at the gathering. “There isn’t an immediate need or urgency to make that decision, so let’s see how things play out.”
In February at the Milan-Cortina Games, IIHF president Luc Tardif said he would like Russia and Belarus to return to international competition “as soon as possible … We try to see what’s going on. Every day you watch the news to hope that something will come better.”
The IIHF has indicated it will take its cue from the International Olympic Committee; the NHL has indicated they will follow the broader “international community.”
On Monday, a report surfaced that Sweden, Finland, and Czechia would not participate in the World Cup of Hockey if Russia is invited; Bettman and deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly denied the report, but also indicated that if the war continues, Russia will likely remain on the outside looking in.
Besides the Russia question, other decisions are outstanding, including which networks will get the event. The World Cup of Hockey will not fall under the NHL’s existing global broadcast rights deal, and will instead be offered as an entirely separate package. The league is getting the bidding process going swiftly.
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