NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hints at possible future for 4 Nations-styled tournaments

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman signaled the revival of international hockey at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament on Wednesday. He said the tournament was a launchpad for best-on-best hockey involving league players. Bettman also hinted that more tournaments with a similar format might be organized in the days ahead.

Speaking to the media ahead of the first game in the 4 Nations Face-Off between Canada and Sweden, Bettman promised exciting times ahead for hockey.

“We couldn’t be more excited about making it a reality on a regular schedule with the best players in the world representing their countries,” Bettman said via the Ottawa Citizen.

“We know the full-blown World Cup — and this is just going to be a sampler — is going to be sensational,” Bettman added.

The league has already announced it will take a break next February for hockey to return in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Bettman and NHL Players’ Association Executive Director Marty Walsh also committed to a hockey World Cup in 2028 and the league has already agreed to include hockey in the 2030 Olympics as well.

"With this tournament – and the World Cup’s return to regular rotation – the NHL and NHLPA take a major step in our joint commitment to international hockey,” Bettman said via NHL.com.

Walsh added that he hoped to see Russian players involved in future versions of international tournaments.

“I’d love to see our Russian players playing in these tournaments again. They’re incredible hockey players. The issues are political. Not political as far as the NHLPA, it’s world politics we have to get through,” Walsh said via the Ottawa Citizen.

Gary Bettman announces detailed plans for World Cup of Hockey 2028

The league commissioner announced detailed plans to revive the World Cup of Hockey during the news conference at the Bell Centre in Montreal. He also said that the 4 Nations Face-Off format was a good fit in this situation.

“We have a myriad of decisions that we have to make, which is one of the reasons that the timeframe we had to put [the 4 Nations Face-Off] together, this was the best format that was in a position for us to execute in a first-class way in the time frame that we had,” Bettman said via NHL.com.

An official NHL release also said that the upcoming World Cup of Hockey, set to be held in 2028, would be played under NHL rules and officiated by NHL referees. The last edition of the international tournament was played in 2016.