Kristen Siltonmer 19, 2025, 12:53 PM ET
Closekristen Shilton is ESPN’s national NHL reporter.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The NHL is teasing a potential new era of its annual All-Star Showcase.
Following the success of the four-country face-off runaway last month, replacing the NHL’s traditional All-Star game, the league is ready to roll out something completely different again in February 2026 when the New York Islanders hosted the sport’s top skaters at UBS Arena.
“We’re reassessing that we want to do things because we think you’re as high as possible in all sports in all-star games,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday about the final day of the league’s annual general managers meeting. “And we want to make sure what we’re doing falls under the standards we’ve created.”
The 4 Nations were their first advance to the league’s best-on-best international tournament since hosting the World Cup in 2016. The tournament pits the NHL stars from Canada, the US, Sweden and Finland in a round-robin format where Canada won the US title with Connor McDavid’s overtime goal.
The tournament was a precursor to the NHL’s return to the Olympics after the NHL opted out of the 2018 game and failed to attend in 2022 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the regular season. Bettman said Wednesday that the league would meet with the IIHF later this month to “conclude the issue” in anticipation of the NHL skaters who will appear in the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
The overwhelmingly positive response to the four countries, especially compared to the typical NHL All-Star Game, encourages the league to lean towards newer ideas. Asked whether the four countries had an impact on future All-Star games, Bettman said, “That’s a hypothetical question” – before clarifying that future releases are still under construction.
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“We have promised the islanders an event,” Bettman said. “We’re focusing on what we need to do. We don’t want to be pinned down in this moment. We’re still going through a cycle of what we’re doing here. I don’t want to have speculation.”
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said “It’s all on the table,” and admitted it would make sense to announce what the league is planning before the playoffs begin in mid-April.
In April, collective bargaining discussions will also be held with the Players Association ahead of the NHL. The current CBA expires in September 2026, and Bettman said both sides will sit down and discuss the new contract starting the week of April 1st.
Bettman was predictably vague about the agenda for these meetings, but he didn’t expect to tackle any major hurdles.
“I don’t think we’re seeing any underlying issues on either side,” Bettman said. “I expect based on everything I’m hearing [NHLPA director] Marty [Walsh] We’re going to have a good argument. It’s more logistics and operations, and understanding the technical aspects of daily life that deal with players, rosters and contracts, and more. We want to hear the problem, the problem, what they want to consider. …I hope this can be done quickly, quietly and painlessly. ”
One negotiation point includes new rules regarding junior hockey and university eligibility. The NCAA voted late last year to ensure Canadian Hockey League players remain eligible for college. Previous CHL skaters were considered experts by the standards of the NCAA amateurism rules as some CHL outlook signed NHL entry-level contracts.
What Bettman doesn’t expect from the table is his playoff style adjustments. The NHL is clearly invested in facelifts for the All-Star competition, but there is no such desire from Bettman about how the league will fill its postseason brackets.
“I like exactly what we have,” Bettman said. “If you look at the races we have in the regular season, the playoffs have already begun. We are in the play-in tournament. I think that’s great. What’s more appealing and exciting?”
Immediately after the NHL crowns the next champion, they jump into a new distributed draft. Instead of bringing all 32 teams into one city for the 2025 entry draft, the league will have one representative from each club in Los Angeles greeted prospects, with most team members remaining in their hometown cities.
But Bettman has never committed to that form. The NHL will move forward with feedback from the club, waiting for how things will go in June. Until then, consider the NHL fully embrace yet another new chapter.
“This is what the club said they wanted,” Bettman said. “And a lot of people said, well, maybe we should have other people. [format]. We said, hear, we will experience this experience and if there is a surge in interest to go back, we will take it back to the club [for their feedback]. We make the clubs make this resolve and do it according to their desire to be decentralized. But if we have a desire to go back… we can be flexible. ”
