List of international ice hockey competitions featuring NHL players
Template:Short description The following is a list of international ice hockey competitions where National Hockey League (NHL) players have been able to participate. Most of these competitions were arranged by the NHL or its union, the NHLPA. There have been 14 full international tournaments where it was possible for all NHL players to participate since the 1976 Canada Cup, dubbed as the first real World Championship. There are 5 Canada Cups, 3 World Cups of Hockey, 5 Winter Olympics, 1 Four Nations Face-Off tournament and many players have played in the annual IIHF World Championships.
National team competitions
Summit Series
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Summit Series was an eight-game challenge series between the Soviet National Team and a Canadian professional team.
In the 1972 Summit Series, the Canadian team was made up of NHL hockey players. No World Hockey Association players were included in the event. Two years later, Canadian WHA players competed in the 1974 Summit Series and were defeated by the Soviets. No active NHL players participated in the series; there were however, some former NHLers that played for the WHA-composed Canadian team in the series.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
Canada Cup
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Canada Cup tournament was a major international invitational competition for NHL players before the advent of the World Cup of Hockey.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
| 1981 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
| 1984 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
| 1987 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
| 1991 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
World Cup
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1996, the World Cup of Hockey replaced the Canada Cup.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
| 2004 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
| 2016 | Template:Ih | Europe |
| 2028 | Future event | |
| 2032 | Future event | |
Olympics
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Between 1998 and 2014, the NHL had a break in the season to allow its players to participate in the Olympics. In 2024, the NHL, along with the National Hockey League Players' Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation, have agreed to allow players to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Games after missing out in 2018 and 2022.
IIHF World Championships
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also Since 1976, there has been no limit to how many NHL players countries can send to the IIHF World Championships, but the tournament is usually played during the NHL playoffs. Because of the NHL lockout in 2004–05, all NHL players were available to participate in the 2005 Championship. However, many players did not participate because they had not played for a full season, and were therefore not in "game shape." Another example is during the 2008 gold medal game 2008 Championship Canada faced Russia. However Canada was without superstar Sidney Crosby and Russia did not have Evgeni Malkin because both were playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup final. Both Canada and Russia's teams featured many talented NHL players, but because not all elite players were available, many commentators do not consider this to be best-on-best play.
4 Nations Face-Off tournament
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 2025, the NHL hosted the 4 Nations Face-Off in lieu of a typical NHL All-Star event. A total of seven games were played from February 12–20, with games being hosted in Montreal at Bell Centre, and in Boston at TD Garden. The countries participating in the tournament were Canada, Finland, Sweden and United States, and each team's roster was entirely composed of NHL players, similar to the World Cup of Hockey.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Template:Ih | Template:Ih |
Other competitions
Super Series
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on each NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception was in 1983, when the Soviet National Team represented the Soviet Union. Soviet teams won 14 series, NHL teams won 2 series, and 2 series were tied.
In the following summary the winner of a series is in bold.
| Year | 1st Team | 2nd Team | W | L | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | CSKA Moscow | NHL | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1976 | Soviet Wings Moscow | NHL | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 1978 | Spartak Moscow | NHL | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 1979 | Soviet Wings Moscow | NHL | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 | Dynamo Moscow | NHL | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 | CSKA Moscow | NHL | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 1983 | Template:Ih | NHL | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 1986 | CSKA Moscow | NHL | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 1986 | Dynamo Moscow | NHL | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 1989 | CSKA Moscow | NHL | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1989 | NHL | Dinamo Riga | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1990 | NHL | Khimik Voskresensk | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 1990 | NHL | Soviet Wings Moscow | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 1990 | CSKA Moscow | NHL | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 1990 | Dynamo Moscow | NHL | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 1991 | NHL | Khimik Voskresensk | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 1991 | CSKA Moscow | NHL | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991 | Dynamo Moscow | NHL | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Challenge Cup 1979
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Template:Ih | NHL All-Stars |
Rendez-vous '87
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1987, two matches were held between the USSR and NHL All Stars in Quebec City, Canada in place of the annual NHL All Star Game. Each team won one game and the series was declared a tie.
| Game | Date | Winner | Runner-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 11 February 1987 | NHL All-Stars | Template:Ih | 4–3 |
| 2nd | 13 February 1987 | Template:Ih | NHL All-Stars | 5–3 |
Ninety Nine All Stars Tour
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} During the 1994–95 NHL lockout the Ninety Nine All Stars Tour was created by Wayne Gretzky and some of his personal friends, who formed a team and toured Europe. Playing in five countries, they played eight games against mainly European competition.
NHL Challenge
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Between 2000 and 2003, a select few NHL teams traveled to Europe to play exhibition games against top division teams in the Swedish and Finnish leagues.
| Year | Winner | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Vancouver Canucks | Modo | 5–2 |
| 2000 | Vancouver Canucks | Djurgårdens IF | 2–1 |
| 2001 | Colorado Avalanche | Brynäs IF | 5–3 |
| 2003 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Jokerit | 5–3 |
| 2003 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Djurgårdens IF | 9–2 |
| 2003 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Färjestads BK | 3–0 |
Victoria Cup
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Victoria Cup was an ice hockey tournament organized by the IIHF and intended for teams of the Champions Hockey League and the NHL. The inaugural Cup was a single game playoff between the 2008 IIHF European Champions Cup winners Metallurg Magnitogorsk and the New York Rangers of the NHL. It was held in Bern, Switzerland on 1 October 2008. The Rangers won 4-3.
The 2009 edition of the tournament featured the ZSC Lions, the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League winners, and the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL. The ZSC Lions defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 in the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | New York Rangers | Metallurg Magnitogorsk |
| 2009 | ZSC Lions | Chicago Blackhawks |
KHL vs NHL games
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Teams of the former Soviet league did not play against NHL teams after the Super Series ended until 2008, when the 2008 Victoria Cup took place in Bern. In 2010 NHL teams played their first games on Russian and Latvian ice since 1990.
List of national teams by titles won
This is a list of national teams that have won one or more international titles in competitions that included NHL players. As not all NHL players are eligible for the IIHF World Championships, those titles are not included in this table. This table also excludes results from the Super Series as these matches were widely regarded as exhibition games, and the 1974 Summit Series as the teams were not composed of current NHL players.
| Country | OLY | WCH | CC | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Ih | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2Template:Efn | 11 |
| Template:Ih | 1 | – | – | 1Template:Efn | 2 |
| Template:Ih | – | – | 1 | 1Template:Efn | 2 |
| Template:Ih | 1 | – | – | – | 1 |
| Template:Ih | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
See also
- International Ice Hockey Federation
- National Hockey League
- Ice Hockey World Championships
- List of international games played by NHL teams