The National Hockey League Players Association executive director Marty Walsh stated that he is focused on getting NHL players back on the Olympic stage for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games in Italy.
The NHL participated in five consecutive Olympic Games starting in 1998. The streak ended in 2018 when the NHL opted not to send players to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
That was the result of a change in the terms of the league’s agreement with the International Olympic Committee, while also citing “the overwhelming majority of our clubs” were “adamantly opposed” to disrupting the 2017-18 season for the South Korea-hosted Olympics, according to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
“My focus is to try and make that happen. I’m working with commissioner Gary Bettman, collectively together with the IIHF, and hopefully, we’ll be able to come up with an agreement and move forward,” Walsh told ESPN on Tuesday. “A lot of players from around the globe want to play for their home country. They want that best-on-best tournament. They want to be part of it.”
The 2020 collective bargaining agreement formalized a commitment by the NHL and the NHLPA to participate in both the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics, but that participation is “subject to negotiation of terms acceptable to each of the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF (and/or IOC).”
While there was an agreement on the table, the NHL opted out again from the 2022 Games in Beijing, China, citing “a profound disruption to the regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events.”
Walsh was hired as the replacement to succeed Donald Fehr in February. Walsh previously served as the former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden. He said he’s still learning about the history and dynamics of the NHL, the NHLPA’s relationship with the International Olympic Committee and what it’ll take to play in the 2026 Winter Games.
“We just want to work that out. They can play in the Olympics in 2026. That’s something that’s really important to a lot of players,” Walsh said.
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