MONTREAL -- The World Cup of Hockey is returning beginning in February 2028, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced Wednesday in a joint news conference with NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh.
Both sides reiterated that they are committed to sending NHL players to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, meaning hockey will return to a cadence of best-on-best international competition every two years -- with Bettman calling this month's 4 Nations Face-Off between the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden "a sampler."
NHL players have not competed in an Olympic Games since 2014. The last World Cup of Hockey was in 2016. Since then, many of the league's top stars, including Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, have advocated for the opportunity to represent their countries in the prime of their careers.
"We couldn't be more excited about making a reality: Olympics, World Cups, Olympics, World Cups on a regular schedule of the best hockey players in the world representing their countries," Bettman said. "We know the full blown World Cup is going to be sensational."
Bettman said the league will begin accepting bids on host locations for World Cup of Hockey 2028 soon, and opened the door for European cities to make pitches.
The tournament's format has yet to be determined, but Bettman anticipates at least eight teams. Unlike the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, there will not be "melded teams" such as Team Europe or a U-23 Team North America, but rather each team will consist of players from one country.
The IIHF is not involved in the tournament, Bettman confirmed, meaning it will be an NHL player-only event and federations cannot tap players competing in European leagues.
The biggest remaining question is whether Russia will be able to field a team. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the country has been banned from international play in all age categories by the IIHF. Earlier this month, the NHL and IIHF extended that ban through 2025-26, citing security concerns.
The NHL made a similar ruling for the 4 Nations Face-Off, excluding a Russia team that would have fielded some of the league's top stars such as Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin.
Walsh said Russian players have told him they are passionate about returning to the world stage. He also said he has not heard of any other players who said they would not participate in an event if Russia were involved.
"I'd love to see our Russian players playing in these tournaments. Again, they're incredible hockey players," Walsh said. "The issues are political and it is not political as far as the NHLPA, it's the world politics that we have to get through and I'm hoping that as we get closer to the Olympics, as we get closer to the World Cup, we will start seeing the Russian athletes back in the competition."
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN earlier this season that on the issue of Russia, the NHL often follows the lead and stays aligned with other international governing bodies. When asked what it would take for Russia to be involved in future events, Daly said: "I think the current status quo has to change and it has to change in a material way."
The joint World Cup of Hockey announcement was yet another mark of an improved relationship between the NHL and NHLPA, which will soon begin formal negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The current CBA expires in September 2026, but Bettman said he remains "more than optimistic" that there are not major issues to iron out, and that a new agreement could be announced as soon as this summer.
"All international competition that we do with NHL players is a joint collaboration and partnership with the Players Association," Bettman said. "We now have a partner since Marty has been at the Players Association that has put us in a position collectively to execute these types of events, make these decisions for the long term. That hasn't always been the case."