The NHL announced that the New York Islanders, rather than host the 2026 NHL All-Star Game at UBS Arena next February, will host a “kickoff going to the Olympics” event instead. The game will not take place. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement at the NHL offices in Manhattan last week.
“We’ll have an event at UBS before we go to the Olympics but then we’ll do something that’s more focused on a major hockey event for the following year,” said Bettman, “We have a little bit of time to finalize what we’re doing.”.
Bettman did however say the “kickoff going to the Olympics” event would not be a hockey competition. What would a non-hockey competition event look like is anyone’s guess. Players skating on the ice with their prospective country’s jersey over their street clothes for a lap then heading back to the locker room while some c-list band that no one has ever heard before performs would be my prediction. This is basically a glorified “Olympic layover,” as JFK airport is just a few miles away.
The timing of the announcement that the Islanders would host the 2026 game was curious. Just two weeks prior, the league announced that NHL players would return to the 2026 Milano Olympics for the first time since the 2014 Sochi games in Russia.
Every year the NHL was involved in an in-season international event, whether it was the Olympics or this year’s 4 Nations Face-off, the all-star game was not held.
Monday, Governor Kathy Hochul sent an open letter to the commissioner over his decision to cancel the All-Star Game next season.
It’s always a little dicey or sometimes comical when politicians interfere in sports. Remember the time former Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy invited the Islanders to play in Hartford.
Hochul is 100% percent right in this situation. The NHL was never going to have the All-Star Weekend in an Olympic season, so why schedule it.
Bettman did not say that the Islanders would host the 2027 game, but would host an event that year. That leads to speculation that UBS Arena could host the 2027 NHL Draft. This announcement will provide obstacles with the Islanders ticket department, since the next year’s game was a big selling point in trying to recruit new and keeping current season ticket holders.
Perhaps Bettman will now announce the 2027 All-Star Weekend to the Islanders now that Governor Hochul is involved.
Meanwhile, the Islanders had a stroke of good luck on Monday night. The organization won the 2025 Draft Lottery . New York now owns the first pick of the Draft.
