NHL's Bettman: 'Time will tell' if Russia plays in World Cup - ESPN

Whether Russia and its collection of NHL stars will be invited to the 2028 World Cup of Hockey remains very uncertain.

«We're going to see how things develop. Time will tell,» NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday at the GM meetings in Florida. «There isn't an immediate need or urgency to make that decision, so let's see how things play out.»

The World Cup of Hockey, a joint venture between the NHL and the NHLPA, will next take place in February 2028 with eight teams playing in three cities — Calgary, Edmonton and Prague.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been banned from international play in all age categories by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The IIHF has cited security concerns as the primary factor.

Russia's participation in the World Cup of Hockey has been the source of fierce debate, with some arguing a true «best-on-best» tournament must feature the Russians.

Entering Monday's games, three of the NHL's top 20 scorers were Russian-born: Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov, Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov and Los Angeles Kings winger Artemi Panarin. Russia might also have the world's best goaltending trio in Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy, New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers.

That said, concern over how to integrate Russian players into an NHL-led international event and opposition from countries such as Finland were major reasons the planned 2024 World Cup of Hockey was scrapped in favor of the 4 Nations Face-Off, a four-team tournament held in February 2025 that provided huge returns for the NHL thanks to a pair of USA vs. Canada games.

The NHL isn't obliged to recognize the IIHF ban for its international events, but Bettman