NHL Cancels Olympic Event and Bets on the All-Star Weekend in 2027
The NHL has made a strategic decision that directly impacts its season events. The Olympic farewell event scheduled for February at UBS Arena, the home of the New York Islanders, has been canceled.
Instead, the league plans to hold the All-Star Weekend festivities in the same arena in 2027.
The original decision to hold a pre-Olympic event at the Islanders’ venue was based on the ease of logistics for players, coaches, and staff to gather and travel from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Milan.
The resounding success of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, held earlier this year, led the executives to reconsider the traditional structure of the All-Star Weekend. The skills competition and the 3-on-3 tournament, which has been a fixture in the mid-season hockey event for almost a decade, were called into question.
NHL officials had anticipated that the Islanders would host the All-Star Game in the odd year between the return to the Olympics and the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. The intention is to use the weekend of February 5-7, 2027 for this purpose.
