World Cup in 2028: the NHL “hopes” that Russia will be part of the tournament

This evening, the 4 Nations Showdown kicks off at the Bell Centre. Canada will take the stage as they face Sweden.

Let’s remember that Jordan Binnington and Filip Gustavsson will be the starting goaltenders.

Before the match begins, however, Gary Bettman addressed the media to discuss a few topics… and he confirmed what had been in the air: the World Cup will return in 2028.

Basically, the plan is simple: NHL players will participate in the Olympics in 2026, then we will have the World Cup in 2028 and the Games in 2030.

We want the best players in the world to compete on the international stage every two years, in short.

Gary Bettman officially announces the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.

Olympics and World Cup are going to rotate every two years starting in 2026 Olympics, 2028 WCH, 2030 Olympics, 2032 WCH, etc.

Locations TBD, bids will be solicited by NHL/NHLPA.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 12, 2025

The big question in all of this is what the tournament will look like. And on that note, we also got some details.

During this tournament, there will be “at least” eight teams… and there won’t be a Team Europe as was the case in the last edition of the tournament. Each “team” will be a country this time.

Just so it’s clear, Bettman says 2028 World Cup will have countries as traditional teams, no made up teams like 2016 with Team North America and Team Europe. That’s not coming back.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 12, 2025

Obviously, the four countries participating in the 4 Nations Showdown (Canada, United States, Sweden, and Finland) should fill four of the eight spots. One might think that Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, for example, are other good candidates…

And we have to wonder if Russia will be included.

Marty Walsh, who heads the NHL Players’ Association, was asked about this, and he stated that the league “hopes” Russian players will be involved. That said, it will all depend on “political factors.”

Inclusion of Russians in World Cup per NHLPA Director, Marty Walsh:

Russian players want to get back into best-on-best competition.

The issues are political. I’m hoping that, as we get closer to the Olympics/World Cup, this gets resolved.

— Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) February 12, 2025

We will see how everything evolves in the coming years, but the good news is that after nearly a decade-long pause, we can expect to see the best players in the world competing on the international stage regularly in the coming years.

And that’s good news for everyone.

Overtime

It should also be noted that the World Cup will take place in February. This is something that some criticize about the 4 Nations Showdown since it falls right in the middle of the season… but we will move forward with this time window.

It should also be noted that during his press conference, Gary Bettman mentioned that he has not determined where the World Cup will take place. He has asked cities to submit their bids… and he noted that he is open to both North American and European cities.

Could Montreal, which is hosting the 4 Nations Showdown, gain some points in the coming days to host the World Cup in 2028? To be continued.