NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is open to changing how the All-Star game is handled for the 2026 season, per Daily Faceoff. Bettman is looking at possibly changing the format of the game due to the 4 Nations Face-Off. The 4 Nations event was seen as a massive success in NHL circles.
The 4 Nations Face-Off played its inaugural event in recent months. It brought a pause to the NHL season. While the event was seen as a gamble, it paid off beautifully. The Face-Off final was the most viewed NHL game on ESPN ever, per Sports Pro. Canada defeated the United States for the championship.
The 2026 NHL All-Star game is scheduled to be played in New York City.
Gary Bettman has been unsure about the future of the 4 Nations Face-Off
Bettman seems to be warming to the idea of continuing the 4 Nations Face-Off. Following this year’s event, the NHL commissioner did not pledge to continuing the tournament.
“Well I don’t know,” Bettman said in late February on the Rich Eisen Show, per Sports Pro. “The success has been so quick and overwhelming, we’ve got a lot of things to consider and sort out, including what our own All-Star Game looks like going forward.
“I don’t have all the right answers yet because we’ve got a lot to work through.”
Bettman says that he may talk to other professional sports leagues, like the NBA, about how they set up the format of their All-Star games. He also wants to get input from current NHL players.
“Nobody’s ever complained about the players’ passion or interest in wanting to go all out to play,” Bettman added. “So we’ve experimented over the years. This (the 4 Nations) just took things to a new level.”
Bettman has his hands full. He is working to help set up the next World Cup in hockey, which will be in 2028. There are also the upcoming Olympics.
“We are moving forward with the World Cup two years after the Olympics in 2028,” Bettman said in February, per NHL.com. “We will be asking for bids on hosting games. We will have a package that’s just about done that will be done in the next few weeks and 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 and we know the full-blown World Cup, of which this (the 4 Nations Face-Off) is simply a sampler, is going to be sensational.”
The NHL season is getting closer to the end, as postseason play begins in mid-April.
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