The NHL confirmed earlier reports that the New York Islanders will host the All-Star Game in 2027 rather than 2026.
The New York Islanders will officially have to wait one more year to host an NHL all-star event at UBS Arena.
After ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported Tuesday that the league decided not to further pursue an Olympic send-off event in February 2026 and instead hold an All-Star Game on Long Island in 2027, the NHL announced the news on Friday. The players who are chosen for Olympic rosters will be focused on travel and preparation at that time, the NHL said.
"It is expected that each NHL club will organize an Olympic Winter Games send-off for its respective players traveling to Italy, with more details to be announced when available," the league said in its announcement.
The 2027 NHL All-Star Weekend is scheduled for Feb. 5 to 7 at UBS Arena, home of the Islanders. Details about the weekend will be announced at a later date, but ESPN and ABC will broadcast the event in the United States.
The Islanders were supposed to host the 2026 NHL All-Star Game as a send-off to the Olympics, meaning the participants in both events would head from New York to Milan, Italy. That initial announcement came in February 2024 and would've been a break from the previous three Olympics that featured NHL players, since there was no All-Star Game in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
After the 4 Nations Face-Off drew successful ratings and fan interest in February 2025, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in March that the league was focused on reimagining the 2026 All-Star Weekend.
"We're re-evaluating how we want to do things because I think we've raised the bar about as high as you can for an All-Star Game in any sport," Bettman said at the time. "We want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards that we've created."
Now, UBS Arena, which opened in the 2021-22 season and sits just over 17,000 fans, must look toward 2027. With the World Cup of Hockey taking place in February 2028, there will likely be no All-Star Weekend that year.
The NHL's last All-Star Game happened in Toronto in February 2024.
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