How "Great moments are born from great opportunity"
Written by Evan Deutsch | March 26, 2026
Following the Olympic heroics of Megan Keller and Jack Hughes last February, the United States became the first country to hold all available gold medals in senior best-on-best international hockey. Moments like these are not just symbolic victories, they translate directly into measurable growth for the sport. International success, particularly at the Olympic level, has consistently been linked to increases in USA Hockey membership, especially among youth players (Rule, 2020) For leagues like the NHL, this growth represents a long-term investment: more youth participation today means a larger talent pipeline, stronger fan bases, and expanded global markets tomorrow.
I can remember exactly where I was for both golden goals, and many of my peers can say the same. For the women’s gold medal game, I watched Keller’s goal in Catherwood Library, split-screen studying for a prelim. For Jack Hughes’ goal, I was in bed at 10 a.m. on a Sunday, doing everything in my power not to scream and wake my roommates. While I would consider myself more emotionally invested in Olympic Hockey than the average American, these moments stick, not just for us diehards, but for casual viewers who are pulled into the sport through high-stakes international play.
Despite being played in relatively non-optimal television windows, the women’s game was at 1:10 p.m. ET on a Thursday and the men’s game at 8:10 a.m. ET on a Sunday, both games shattered expectations. The women’s game drew roughly 5 million viewers, becoming the most-watched women’s hockey game in history (Sports Business Journal, 2026), while the men’s game peaked at around 26 million viewers (Fisher et al., 2026). These numbers highlight a critical point: Olympic hockey is not just culturally meaningful, it is economically powerful.
The aftermath reinforced this impact. Hockey conversations surged, new fans engaged with the sport, and players like Jack Hughes became recognizable even to those who had never followed hockey before. These are not isolated anecdotes, they reflect how Olympic exposure lowers barriers to entry and drives sustained interest. In other words, Olympic participation directly serves the NHL’s own long-term economic incentives.
Yet despite these clear benefits, NHL players do not have a guaranteed right to participate in the Olympics. Unlike the PWHL, where international play is more seamlessly integrated, NHL participation remains inconsistent and contingent. This difference is largely rooted in structural and financial distinctions between the leagues. The PWHL operates on a smaller scale with centralized governance and fewer commercial constraints, making it easier to pause league play and coordinate with international tournaments. By contrast, the NHL is a global, revenue-driven league with a tightly packed schedule, significant broadcast obligations, and heightened concerns over player injury and contract valuation. As a result, Olympic participation becomes a negotiated exception rather than a built-in feature of the league. In fact, 2026 marked the first Olympic Games in 12 years to include NHL players, following disputes over insurance costs, scheduling conflicts, and injury risk (Losada, 2026).
This inconsistency is precisely why Olympic participation should be treated as a mandatory subject of collective bargaining, and ultimately a guaranteed right for players, not a discretionary bargaining chip. Under the current system, participation is renegotiated every Olympic cycle, meaning players’ ability to compete on the world stage depends on shifting financial and logistical priorities rather than stable labor protections.
There are three key reasons why this matters.
First, from a labor rights perspective, representing one’s country at the highest level of competition is a core aspect of a professional hockey player’s career. Denying or conditionally granting that opportunity places disproportionate control in the hands of team owners, even when players themselves bear the reputational and legacy stakes of international play.
Second, from an economic standpoint, the NHL materially benefits from Olympic participation through increased visibility, youth enrollment, and global expansion. Allowing owners to restrict participation while still reaping these downstream benefits creates a misalignment between who assumes risk and who captures long-term gains.
Third, the current system creates legal and financial uncertainty around injury risk and contract valuation. If a player is injured during Olympic competition, disputes arise over liability and compensation, issues that directly affect contract negotiations and player security. By formally recognizing Olympic participation within collective bargaining agreements, the league and players’ association could standardize insurance protections like the PWHL and allocate risk more transparently, rather than treating each Olympic cycle as an ad hoc negotiation.
Ultimately, the issue is not whether Olympic participation is valuable, the evidence overwhelmingly shows that it is. The issue is whether the law should recognize that value in a way that protects players. As long as Olympic participation remains discretionary, it will continue to be subject to short-term financial concerns that undermine both player rights and the league’s long-term growth. Reframing it as a guaranteed, collectively bargained right would provide stability, align incentives, and ensure that the sport’s biggest stage remains accessible to its best players.
References
Fisher, E., Fisher, E., & Fisher, E. (2026, February 25). U.S. Gold-Medal Game Draws 20.7M Viewers for NBC, a Morning Record. Front Office Sports. https://frontofficesports.com/u-s-gold-medal-game-draws-20-7m-viewers-for-nbc/
Losada, A. (2026, February 6). Why Were NHL Players Prevented from Competing in Recent Olympics? Yahoo Sports. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/why-were-nhl-players-prevented-010000754.html
Rule, H. (2020, February 22). 40 years later, Miracle on Ice impact endures - Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Minnesota Hockey Magazine. https://minnesotahockeymag.com/40-years-later-miracle-on-ice-impact-endures/
Team USA delivers most-watched women’s hockey audience yet in gold medal win. (2026, February 23). Sports Business Journal. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2026/02/23/team-usa-delivers-most-watched-womens-hockey-audience-yet-in-gold-medal-win/
The return of NHL players to the Olympics . . . right? | Villanova University. (n.d.). https://www.villanova.edu/villanova/law/academics/sportslaw/commentary/mslj_blog/2021/thereturnofnhlplayerstotheolympics.html
