NHL’s return to the Olympics could be the start of a big era for the sport of hockey

Credit: KHL

You know, “Canadian leading scorer Adam Tambellini” doesn’t have the same oomph as “Sidney Crosby, hockey superstar.”

Finally, the NHL is heading back to the Olympics. And we’re even getting a four-team tournament next year to give us a preview. It’s not perfect, but it’s finally a step in the right direction.

The game is better when the best players are showcased. Gimmick or not, there’s value there. Fans want players going for gold at the Olympics, and anything else is just gravy.

We’ve been teased for way too long. The NHL was never going to go to South Korea in 2018, but they did commit to China in 2022 – only for the COVID-19 pandemic to put that on ice just two months earlier. And don’t get me started about the World Cup of Hockey.

The players want to go. The fans want them to go. This is best for the game of hockey.

It took way too much to make this happen. The NHL gets a bad rep for being one of the worst at promoting their own game, but this is a step in the right direction. The fact we haven’t had Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid team up to take on Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes in an international event yet is a colossal, enormous, cosmic, limitless, behemoth wasted opportunity for the NHL.

We’re finally on the right track. And hopefully, this becomes a permanent thing.

That seems the plan, at least. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the plan is to have a World Cup in 2028 and 2032, meaning we’d get to a two-year cycle of international hockey. And if that happens, it’ll be the most best-on-best international competition we’ve ever seen.

We’ve heard rumblings of this all before with no payoff, so skepticism is understandable. But right now, the way it’s laid out, is exciting. Especially when you consider Salt Lake City is the favorite to host the 2034 Winter Games – USA Hockey territory, baby.

It’s hard to get a truly numerical assessment of how successful showcasing NHL players on the international stage is. If the NHL found value in having their stars play at 2:00 AM ET in South Korea, they would have done it, right? But it’s a mistake not to do it, especially since the players want to be involved. Some of hockey’s biggest moments have come on the international stage – the Summit Series, 1980, the 2010 golden goal, you name it. Unlike the NHL All-Star Game, where players are just floating around without a care in the world, the players care about repping their nation’s colors.

Let’s be real: European fans care significantly more about national teams going toe-to-toe for gold. The IIHF World Championship is huge. Latvian fans were given the day off after finishing third on home ice last May. Canada, meanwhile, won gold, and it wasn’t even on the front page of any major news publication’s sports section the next day. They might not be interested in the 4 Nations Face-Off, but they’ll be thrilled about the chance to show how far they’ve come since 2014 at the Olympics.

International hockey is all about growing the game as much as possible. The NHL and its players didn’t seem to be on the same page, and we wasted so many good years from Crosby, McDavid, Matthews, Alex Ovechkin, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, the Tkachuk brothers, Jack Eichel and so many more superstars. They can’t make the same mistake with Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson, Brock Faber, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Tim Stutzle and Rasmus Dahlin.

There’s so much good hockey at all levels. You don’t always need the best players to make it happen – just look back to 2018. But visibility is so crucial for the long-term health of the sport, and it has a trickle down effect to countries all over the world. The NHL is in a position to continue growing the game globally, and all it took was a return to the world stage.

There’s a real reason to be excited about top-level international hockey right now. Don’t screw this up.

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NHL’s return to the Olympics could be the start of a big era for the sport of hockey

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