Best-on-best: when the NHL's stars play for their countries.

The three events at a glance

NBC New York noted that the 2026 Olympic final was the third U.S.-Canada championship game of this kind to need overtime, after the 2010 Olympic final and the 2025 4 Nations final.

The 4 Nations Face-Off, February 2025

The 4 Nations Face-Off was a new tournament run by the NHL and its players' association, with four teams: Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. CHL.ca describes the format as a round robin in which each team played the other three, followed by a final between the top two. AP called it the first international event with the NHL's best players in nearly a decade. Round-robin games were split between the Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston, and the final was at TD Garden.

Round robin

The United States finished top. Canada and Sweden were level on points, and Canada went through to the final on its head-to-head win over Sweden.

The U.S.-Canada game in Montreal on 15 February drew a crowd of 21,105, and it opened with three fights in the first seconds. AP reported that the first two, Matthew Tkachuk against Brandon Hagel and then Brady Tkachuk against Sam Bennett, came within about three seconds. Dylan Larkin scored the winner and Jake Guentzel added an empty-net goal. Rulebooks treat fights differently. The IIHF Official Rule Book 2026/27 (Rule 46.1) gives a player who fights a major penalty plus an automatic game misconduct, while the NHL Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rule 46) give referees wide latitude in the penalties they impose. The penalties page has more.

The final

Canada beat the United States 3-2 in overtime at TD Garden on 20 February 2025, on a goal by Connor McDavid. CHL.ca counted it as Canada's seventh title at an NHL international tournament and named Nathan MacKinnon the tournament's most valuable player. Wikipedia and Hockey Canada's box score list MacKinnon and Sam Bennett as Canada's other scorers and Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson for the U.S., with Jordan Binnington making 31 saves. Recaps put McDavid's winner at 8:18 of overtime on a pass from Mitch Marner; we could not confirm the time from a page we read directly. Hockey Canada's official box score dates the final 21 February 2025, which differs from the 20 February date given in recaps.

The 2026 Olympics

The Milan Cortina men's tournament was the first Olympics with NHL players since 2014, under an agreement finalised on 2 July 2025, and the only senior men's best-on-best event of 2026. The United States won gold, beating Canada 2-1 on Jack Hughes's goal in 3-on-3 overtime, with Finland taking bronze. Full results, including the women's tournament, are on the Olympic hockey page.

According to NHL.com, NHL players went to five straight Olympics from 1998 to 2014, then missed 2018 and 2022. The Hockey News reported that the 2025 agreement opens the door to the 2030 Games in the French Alps but does not guarantee them.

The World Cup of Hockey, February 2028

On 16 March 2026 the NHL and its players' association named three hosts for an eight-nation World Cup of Hockey in February 2028. NHL.com gives the split of its 17 games:

NHL.com says earlier World Cups were held in 1996, 2004 and 2016, so 2028 will be the fourth. The request for hosts went to 28 cities in North America and Europe. The participating nations had not been named when the hosts were announced, and we have not found a later announcement naming them.

Before all this

Earlier international series, including the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, are covered on international hockey history. The Canadian Museum of History describes that series as eight games, four in Canadian cities and four in Moscow, which Canada won four games to three with one tie.