The NHL officially cancels major league event
Photo credit: Profimedia
The NHL has announced the cancellation of the NHL All-Star game for a second straight season, opting instead to hold a "kick off event" ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
With the massive success of the 4 Nations faceoff coming just a year after the NHL All-Star game made headlines for being lackluster, the NHL is apparently ready to take a reset when it comes to the All-Star festivities.
NHL replaces 2026 All-Star event
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced on Tuesday that the league will not hold a formal All-Star game in 2026.
While plans had been made to hold the 2026 All-Star game at UBS arena in Long Island, New York as a lead in to the 2026 Winter Olympics, the league has now stated it will instead hold a "kick off event" before the Olympics.
The event will still be held at UBS Arena, but the league wants to take time to revisit just what the All-Star game, or the event that assumes its place, will look like.
After the success of the 4 Nations, Bettman said in March that he was re-evaluating the All-Star Game format.
The league apparently wants time to decide just what that will look like.
We'll have an event at UBS before we go to the Olympics, but then we'll do something that's more focused on a major hockey event for the following year... We have a little bit of time to finalize what we're doing.
There's also no clarity on what the Olympic kick off event will look like, but the Islanders franchise said they're excited to have it take place at UBS Arena, as the All-Star game was meant to.
The NHL plans to participate in international hockey tournaments, including the Olympics, in every other year - which means they'll be planning for All-Star events in 2027, 2029, and 2031.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 29 | 893 ANSWERS The NHL officially cancels major league event Do you think the NHL needs to bring back the All-Star game> | ||
| Yes, it's for the kids | 106 | 11.9 % |
| Yes, but it needs to be tweaked in a big way | 195 | 21.8 % |
| No, replace it with international hockey routinely | 592 | 66.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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