I’ll be honest, I didn’t both to watch any of the NHL All-Star coverage, other than seeing some highlights clips from the skills competition.
Instead, the main news of note over the period concerned the long-awaited announcement of NHL players’ participation in international tournaments over the next few years, most particularly the Olympics.
Whilst it’s understandable that the NHL team owners would prefer their assets to be left alone – just as football teams would here in Europe – the players clearly were desperate to see the sport return to the Olympics. The concern on my part was that it would end up being used against the players in future labour negotiations, with the team owners using it as a bargaining tool to force concessions out of them.
Thankfully, we do have a sensible resolution and we now know that there will be NHL players at the 2026 and 2030 Olympic games.
There will also be a NHL 4 Nations Face-Off competition next season in place of the All-Star game, with Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
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