Gary Bettman confirms the NHL is bringing back a critical feature of hockey

For the last ten years, the NHL has made the decision to forbid its players from attending the Olympic Games. As a result, best-on-best international hockey has been sorely missed by fans of the game across the world.

The league tried to rekindle the spirit again with a World Cup of Hockey that was held in 2016 in Toronto, and it was an incredible success. The tournament included an amalgamated Team Europe that placed players like Leon Draisaitl and Anze Kopitar together, as well as a team North America for younger players, that placed Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid on the same team.

Now ahead of today's winter classic game between Las Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken, commissioner Gary Bettman provided a critical update to the return of international hockey.




Bettman confirmed today that the league is working on bringing back international best-on-best hockey, most likely again in the form of a World Cup. By holding a World Cup instead of going to the Olympics, the NHL has more of a level of control in North American buildings, as well as making key decisions to the participants of the tournament, which will carry significance to the Russian team as they've been recently excluded due to their conflict with Ukraine.

Regardless of what form it comes in, it's fantastic that international hockey could soon make a return - it's something that all hockey fans have sorely missed.