After a brief hiatus, the World Cup of Hockey will return for the 2028 season. With puck drop on the 4 Nations Cup on Wednesday evening, it will mark the first best-on-best international hockey tournament featuring professional athletes since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The goal is to have an international tournament every other year, with players going to the Olympics in 2026 and ’30.

The World Cup of Hockey, last played in 2016, will return in February 2028 with hopes of commanding a regular place on the global schedule alongside the Winter Olympics."Resuming Olympic participation next season and staging a World Cup of Hockey in February 2028 will provide expanded opportunity for more players to represent more nations in best-on-best competition.