Nikolaj Ehlers Postgame After a brief hiatus, the World Cup of Hockey will return for the 2028 season. With puck drop on the 4 Nations Cup on Wednesday evening, it will mark the first best-on-best international hockey tournament featuring professional athletes since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Yes, it has been that long - Far too long in the perspective of some. Having last held a World Cup of Hockey in 2004, the NHL and NHLPA put together a make-shift event in 2016 that featured 'Team North America' consisting of youngsters from the local continent, competing against all the top nations. Now, in 2025, the 4 Nations Cup will feature Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden in a four-team round robin tournament. On Wednesday, Bettman announced plans to have the World Cup of Hockey held every four years, alternating with the Winter Olympic Games every two years, beginning in 2028, bringing back the best-on-best international action that fans have been craving since the 2010 Winter Olympics. It will be the fourth World Cup of Hockey (1996, 2004 and 2016), and a bidding process for host cities and venues will open in the coming months. “International best-on-best competition is very important to our Players – representing their countries on the ice is in their DNA — and hockey fans love it,” Bettman said. “Resuming Olympic participation next season and staging a World Cup of Hockey in February 2028 will provide expanded opportunity for more players to represent more nations in best-on-best competition. With this tournament – and the World Cup’s return to regular rotation – the NHL and NHLPA take a major step in our joint commitment to international hockey.” The 2018 World Cup of Hockey will take place on NHL-sized ice surfaces, to which NHL rules and NHL referees will be implemented.
