2026 Winter Olympics (no NHL players.) What format would you prefer?

[Rob]

Status Quo - Outside of Russia I don't think many prefer seeing the same format from the past two Olympics.

Amateurs - Only university players. The US might prefer this but not many others.

U20 - Don't have the world juniors during the Olympics years.

U18 - Guaranteed to have the best under 18 players available. Nice showcase for the draft.

National Teams - Younger folks out there may not remember but we used to have national teams that played together the year round.

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[WarriorofTime]

the best non-NHL players in the world is the best of a bunch of bad options (whether it means players in the KHL, AHL, College Hockey, etc.)

The World Juniors are already a thing, having 1/4 of the World Juniors be for an Olympic Gold would be silly and arbitrary. Ditto for the Under-18s.

National teams were amateurs (or shamateurs in the Eastern Bloc), I think Lindros played or threatened to play there rather than learn French and show up to Quebec, but that's a bad option as well.

 

[Rob]

National teams were amateurs (or shamateurs in the Eastern Bloc), I think Lindros played or threatened to play there rather than learn French and show up to Quebec, but that's a bad option as well.

National teams were a bit different from strictly amateurs as players with pro-experience were allowed to player. I think 1988 were the first Olympics to have them.

I remember the national teams would play in tournament year round. Including exhibition games against NHL and European clubs. Kind of underwhelming though

 

[Jussi]

It wouldn't be KHL players then either....

 

[Antiillafire]

Making it u20 or u18 would be fun but it would but at the same time would cause more blowouts. And even than it wouldn’t be best on best as some U20’s will be in the nhl and some u18’s will be too integral to their NA junior clubs to be let go for a month.

 

[Faterson]

What do you mean by "no NHL players"?

Enough of this annual & quadrennial sabotage of international hockey by the selfish NHL!

The NHL should pause its season every February for 2 weeks, to allow best-on-best World Championships or Olympics to take place.

The same strict rules should apply in hockey as in international soccer: no single country (or pair of countries) may dare sabotage top-level international tournaments.

And hockey is minuscule in terms of both global stature and $$$, compared to soccer, so don't give me that bull**** again about the NHL owners' money being more important than the Olympics or even the World Championships.

If soccer's millionaire and billionaire club owners can defer to international tournament scheduling, so should the NHL owners.

The NHL should just put up and shut up.

Other than that, the current Olympic (and World Championships) playing format is OK. But I voted "Other", given that the poll is built on a false premise.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

What do you mean by "no NHL players"?

Enough of this annual & quadrennial sabotage of international hockey by the selfish NHL!

The NHL should pause its season every February for 2 weeks, to allow best-on-best World Championships or Olympics to take place.

The same strict rules should apply in hockey as in international soccer: no single country (or pair of countries) may dare sabotage top-level international tournaments.

And hockey is minuscule in terms of both global stature and $$$, compared to soccer, so don't give me that bull**** again about the NHL owners' money being more important than the Olympics or even the World Championships.

If soccer's millionaire and billionaire club owners can defer to international tournament scheduling, so should the NHL owners.

The NHL should just put up and shut up.

Other than that, the current Olympic (and World Championships) playing format is OK. But I voted "Other", given that the poll is built on a false premise.

You clearly don't understand the priorities of North American hockey players. Few (in North America, anyway) grow up dreaming of Olympic gold over the Stanley Cup, they grow up dreaming of winning the Stanley Cup. f*** Olympic Gold, I'd take one Stanley Cup over my nation ever winning Olympic Gold for the rest of my lifetime.

Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong. It's just different.

EDIT: I took the thread a bit OT, I'll drop the issue.

 

[Albatros]

No one grows up dreaming of Olympic gold

That's a bold statement if I ever saw one.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

That's a bold statement if I ever saw one.

I edited it for clarification. Europeans can go have their Olympic golds, most NHL fans in North America care about the Cup first.

 

[Faterson]

You clearly don't understand the priorities of North American hockey players.

You clearly don't understand that going for Olympic gold and going for the Stanley Cup is not mutually exclusive at all – just like in soccer, you can be Messi or Ronaldo and aim to win the Champions League, the domestic league, and the World Cup all in a single season.

The NHL just needs to stop being selfish, stop sabotaging international hockey after all these decades. Cancel stupid all-star weeks/weekends and bye-weeks, pause the regular season for 2 weeks every February, issue solved.

 

[Boonk]

You clearly don't understand the priorities of North American hockey players. Few (EDIT: In North America, obviously) grow up dreaming of Olympic gold, they grow up dreaming of winning the Stanley Cup. f*** Olympic Gold, I'd take one Stanley Cup over my nation ever winning Olympic Gold for the rest of my lifetime.

Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong. It's just different.

Yep you're totally right, they surely don't care! That's why the players fought so hard to ensure their participation, and played in qualifications right?

Players can and do want to play and win at the highest levels for both their club and country. It's really not that hard to understand.

 

[Vakarte]

What is it with people moving the goal post for not wanting NHLers returning to the Olympics???

 

[TheGreenTBer]

You clearly don't understand that going for Olympic gold and going for the Stanley Cup is not mutually exclusive at all – just like in soccer, you can be Messi or Ronaldo and aim to win the Champions League, the domestic league, and the World Cup all in a single season.

The NHL just needs to stop being selfish, stop sabotaging international hockey after all these decades. Cancel stupid all-star weeks/weekends and bye-weeks, pause the regular season for 2 weeks every February, issue solved.

Yep you're totally right, they surely don't care! That's why the players fought so hard to ensure their participation, and played in qualifications right?

Players can and do want to play and win at the highest levels for both their club and country. It's really not that hard to understand.

Jesus f***ing Christ...

I didn't intend to mean that the Olympics are irrelevant, or that players don't necessarily care about both. It's just that North Americans tend to place more importance on the Stanley Cup than Olympic gold, and if you polled NHL players they'd very likely prefer to win the Stanley Cup over Olympic gold.

Heaven forbid I exaggerate to make a f***ing point.

 

[Boonk]

Jesus f***ing Christ...

I didn't intend to mean that the Olympics are irrelevant, or that players don't necessarily care about both. It's just that North Americans tend to place more importance on the Stanley Cup than Olympic gold, and if you polled NHL players they'd very likely prefer to win the Stanley Cup over Olympic gold.

Heaven forbid I exaggerate to make a f***ing point.

Maybe you're right, but why wouldn't they also want to win an Olympic gold for their country? It's the highest achievement in international hockey and the NHL players clearly care about it as well. Its normal for players to want to win at the highest level for their country too. Guys like Ehlers, Bjorkstrand, Zuccarello and Kopitar went to play in qualifiers for their countries to get them there (before the NHL jumped ship due to Covid)

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Maybe you're right, but why wouldn't they also want to win an Olympic gold for their country? It's the highest achievement in international hockey and the NHL players clearly care about it as well. Its normal for players to want to win at the highest level for their country too. Guys like Ehlers, Bjorkstrand, Zuccarello and Kopitar went to play in qualifiers for their countries to get them there (before the NHL jumped ship due to Covid)

Completely fair response, and in the case of international players I don't blame them in the slightest if Olympic gold means the most to them. Thanks for helping getting us back on track.

I'll drop the issue, I don't want to unintentionally rile people up. I'm not intending to telling fans how to be fans; whatever means the most to you is great.

 

[Mickey the mouse]

Anyone that hasn't played an NHL game in 2025-2026 but can be on a NHL deal.

A lot of AHL players on NHL 2 way deals would make for better games

 

[BMacLeafs]

Where is the "cancel it if there are no NHL players" option?

 

[Eye of Ra]

u23 tournament

 

[Rob]

u23 tournament

I thought of that myself. Doubt it would happen because the NHL would not release the necessary players. I think U20 is the best we could hope for.

 

[Urbanskog]

I think U20 is the best we could hope for.

It will never happen and I'm not sure why do you think it's something that could be hoped for. There's absolutely zero reason for national federations to impair themselves by only selecting U20 players and there's absolutely no reason for the IIHF to put such an age restriction in place when there's already the WJC.

 

[Lartsaman]

U20 tournament would give a massive edge to Canada and USA(if no nhl:ers). No wonder people here are hoping for it.

 

[Rob]

It will never happen and I'm not sure why do you think it's something that could be hoped for. There's absolutely zero reason for national federations to impair themselves by only selecting U20 players and there's absolutely no reason for the IIHF to put such an age restriction in place when there's already the WJC.

Not all federations. The current format benefits a few. If you put an age restriction on the tournament it evens out the playing field.

 

[Rob]

U20 tournament would give a massive edge to Canada and USA(if no nhl:ers). No wonder people here are hoping for it.

I don’t think so at all. Finland won gold at the WJC both in 2016 and 2019.

Russia has underperformed lately but they have had a lot of success in the past.

 

[Urbanskog]

Not all federations. The current format benefits a few. If you put an age restriction on the tournament it evens out the playing field.

So the current format benefits ten participating federations while your proposal benefits two and the only reason it disadvantages those two is because their hockey league is actively trying to sabotage the competition.

 

[Rob]

So the current format benefits ten participating federations while your proposal benefits two and the only reason it disadvantages those two is because their hockey league is actively trying to sabotage the competition.

No. The current format benefits one nation.