Two-time Olympic champion and former famous hockey player Alexander Kozhevnikov, in a comment to socialbites.ca, talked about the return of National Hockey League players to the Olympic Games and said that this is the right decision for hockey.
“Of course it’s better to have the strongest. That’s a lot of money, what a traceability it will be! We have participated before, but the Canadians have not played with the strongest squad of the Olympics for a long time, interest in this tournament must return,” thinks Kozhevnikov.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that hockey players from the strongest league in the world will officially participate in the next two Olympic hockey tournaments in 2026 and 2030. Previously, NHL employees have participated in the Olympics, from the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. However, they missed the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Beijing, China, because the owners of the NHL clubs represented by the league and the players’ union could not agree on the terms of participation. The league and union first stated their intention to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Games in the last collective agreement.
Previously reportedNikita Kucherov again led the NHL scoring race.