The 2026 Winter Olympics were one of the greatest showcases for the sport of hockey in history. After Jack Hughes scored the gold medal-winning goal in overtime against Canada in the final game of the tournament, that whole team became national heroes. Hughes was on every news and sports program in existence, and the good times rolled for Team U.S.A.
It was considered the first best-on-best tournament in more than a decade. It built off the momentum of the 4 Nations Face-Off, but it’s hard to call it a best-on-best without Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Russians were not invited by the IOC to the Olympics due to their ongoing war in Ukraine. There weren’t many Devils players who might have made the team, but rookie forward Arseny Gritsyuk definitely had a shot to crack the roster. He spent a long time in the KHL and showed he could excel as a third liner, which is what the Russian squad would be looking for.
Even though Gritsyuk lost that opportunity, he’s likely looking at future opportunities to wear his nation’s colors. However, a new report shows that certain countries might relent to any chance of Russia returning to international hockey anytime soon.
A report from Czechia reporter Robert Rampa says that if Russia were allowed to play at the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, then Sweden, Czechia, and Finland would not send a team. If true, that’s a heck of a line in the sand for those mostly Nordic countries to see how valuable the World Cup sees Russia in future tournaments.
Podle mých informací NHL byla informována evropskými zeměmi, že za současné situace, pokud by na Světový pohár měli jet Rusové, tak by Češi, Finové a Švédové na Světový pohár nejeli. https://t.co/WdeLbkzDBh
— Robert Rampa (@RampaRobert15) March 16, 2026
Of course, if the World Cup has Russia send a roster, that would give them something people haven’t seen at the Olympics. However, it also means one of the top teams in the world (Sweden), and the bronze medalist (Finland) would be staying home. It once again puts the World Cup in a position to feel like something is missing.
Finland and Sweden are two of the only teams that can field a full team of NHL players, making them particularly valuable to Gary Bettman and the league. One of those NHL players who would book a vacation to Aruba instead of best-on-best hockey would be Jesper Bratt. He had a very strange Olympics, and he likely wants redemption. This is way above his pay grade, but it’s definitely something the players think about.
One way or another, the Russia debate isn’t going anywhere. The Devils have a few players who could look to play at future international tournaments, including former first-round pick Anton Silayev and goalie prospect Mikhail Yegorov.
For now, it’s a wait-and-see approach to everything. A lot can change in two years, but if it’s still wartime in Russia, it’s likely that countries will take a stand.