RALEIGH, N.C. -- The NHL All-Star Weekend will have an international hockey flavor after the success of the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Winter Olympics.
The 2027 midseason classic, scheduled for Feb. 5-6 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, will feature teams representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and a "World" team comprising international players from countries outside of those four.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that Russian players will be permitted on the World team, despite an uncertain status for other international hockey events.
"We're extremely excited to bring this event to New York. We think the format we've created will be fun. It'll be entertaining. It'll be great for the players and the fans," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday at his state of the league address before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. "We know there have been some fits and starts on this, but we think together we figured this out."
UBS Arena was scheduled to host the 2026 NHL All-Star Game. That was changed to an "international event" as the league decided to allow its players to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. That event was eventually scuttled due to travel considerations for players.
Each All-Star team will have nine skaters and two goalies. They'll compete in a 3-on-3, round-robin exhibition tournament. Each team will play four 5-minute games, with a win earning it 2 points, a tie earning it 1 point and zero points for a loss. The winning team will claim a $2 million prize.
The NHL and NHLPA will select 30 players from each of the participating teams for the 2027 NHL All-Star Fan Vote, which will open in December. From that list, fans will have the opportunity to select eight players from each team. The remaining three roster spots for each team -- one forward, one defenseman and one goaltender -- will be selected jointly by the NHL and NHLPA.
The NHL All-Star Skills Competition will also undergo a format change, with a focus on the next generation of stars.
Ten players ages 25 or younger will compete across eight events. Four of six will be mandatory: skater, hardest shot, passing challenge, one timers, stick handling and accuracy shooting. The top four players will advance to a shootout, facing one of four All-star goalies. The top two players from that will then face off in the obstacle course finale, with a $1 million prize on the line.
"Four Nations was a kind of a prelude into the Olympics. This All-Star Weekend can be a prelude to the World Cup of Hockey in the following year," Marty Walsh, NHLPA executive director, said.
Though Russian players will compete in the 2027 All-Star Game, their status for the World Cup remains in question. Russian players have been banned from International Ice Hockey Federation events since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including events such as the world championships and world juniors championships. Russians also were not permitted to compete in the 2026 Olympic tournament.
But last week, the IIHF said it would determine the status of Russia's participation on an event-by-event basis for the 2026-27 season. Bettman had indicated that the NHL would follow the international hockey community's lead on Russia's status, even though the IIHF has no governance over the World Cup.
"I don't think there's complete clarity on what they've done and what it means, so that's why we're going to have to wait and see further," Bettman said.
Complicating matters for the NHL: whether other nations will accept Russian participation in events such as the World Cup.
One of the reasons why the 4 Nations Face-Off was created -- and event featuring the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland -- was because the NHL couldn't pull together a World Cup of Hockey format due to the "inordinately uncertain environment" created by the IIHF ban on Russia. There was a report in Czech media recently that Czechia, Finland and Sweden would not play in an NHL/NHLPA World Cup of Hockey if Russia was involved.
Daly said he spoke with the IIHF on Tuesday morning and that "they don't anticipate a problem with the Swedes, Finns or Czechs right now in terms of a boycott" of the event.
"Again, we're getting a little too far ahead of ourselves because they haven't made any determinations with respect to whether the Russians are going to participate in any of the international tournaments scheduled for 2026-27," Daly said. "We're going to monitor it and it'll be relevant to our process in determining the World Cup of Hockey. But obviously within the decision that came down, I think is probably helpful longer term if what you're looking for is potential Russian participation."
In other news at Tuesday's news conference:
• Bettman defended the NHL's current wild-card playoff format, which has been in place since the 2013-14 season. He said games are closer and more entertaining than in other recent formats. "Under this format, you get more six-seven game series than you do under a 1-through-8 format. It's not clear-cut a change is called for."
• The NHL reaffirmed that the Vegas Golden Knights are within their rights to deny former coach Bruce Cassidy from interviewing with divisional rivals such as Edmonton and Los Angeles.
"Obviously, we don't find it unreasonable because we're allowing it to happen. I do think Vegas is clearly within their contractual rights to do what they're doing," Daly said.
Daly said "we'll see where we go from there" after the Stanley Cup Final, but stressed that "there are contracts that exist in the league that would not allow for this to happen and his was not one of them."
• Daly said the NHL is not in favor of the NCAA changing its eligibility rules to an age-based eligibility concept that would permit student-athletes up to five years of eligibility beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school. "We're not in favor of the change and we've made the NCAA aware of it," Daly said.
• Bettman said the NHL board of directors has been briefed about a potential succession plan for the commissioner, who took over the NHL in 1993.
"I am 74 and I do acknowledge the fact that I can't do this forever. We have been in discussions over the last couple of years at least as to what a succession plan might look like. It hasn't been fully implemented. The executive committee is fully on board," Bettman said. "The board has been briefed in terms of the direction that we may go, but beyond that, there's nothing happening imminently and reports of my demise or retirement are greatly exaggerated."