NHL Taking 4 Nations Face-Off Format To All-Star Game ’27 With Five National Teams
Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 05:30PM By Barry Janoff
June 2, 2026: The NHL had so much success with its 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 that it is reformatting its 2027 All-Star Game in a similar fashion.
4 Nations Face-Off featured squads of players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States, won by Canada.
It replaced the NHL's annual All-Star Game for 2025.
The 2027 All-Star Game will have five squads of players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and a “World” team comprised of international players from countries outside of the other four teams
The 2027 Honda NHL All-Star Game and 2027 NHL All-Star Skills are scheduled for Feb. 5-6 in UBS Arena, home to the New York Islanders, in Elmont, N.Y. It is adjacent to Belmont Park, site of the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown (beginning again in 2027 after construction is completed).
"We're extremely excited to bring this event to New York. We think the format we've created will be fun,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during a media conference before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final
“It'll be entertaining. It'll be great for the players and the fans. We know there have been some fits and starts on this, but we think together we figured this out."
UBS Arena was originally scheduled to host the 2026 NHL All-Star Weekend, but was postponed due to players participating in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Each team will consist of 11 players: nine skaters and two goaltenders. The NHL and NHLPA will select 30 players from each of the participating teams for the 2027 NHL All-Star Fan Vote, which will open in December.
From that list, people will have the opportunity to select eight players from each team. The remaining three roster spots for each team – one forward, one defenseman and one goaltender – will be selected jointly by the NHL and NHLPA.
Each team will play four 5-minute games during the round-robin tournament. There will not be an overtime period or shootout in the event of a tie.
The top two teams from the round robin will advance to a 10-minute final based on the following points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss. The winning team will claim a $2 million prize.
The 2027 NHL All-Star Skills will feature ten young stars ages 25 or younger competing across eight events, jointly selected by the NHL and NHLPA.
ESPN in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada will present the 2027 NHL All-Star Skills on Friday, Feb. 5. ABC in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada will deliver live coverage of the 2027 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Saturday, Feb. 6.
“Our fans like (All-Star Weekend),” Bettman said via the league “Our (All-Star Weekend) has worked well. We haven’t had some of the issues that some of the other leagues have had. Y
“We even blew ourselves up with 4 Nations by taking it to a whole new level, but there was never anything wrong with the All-Star format that we’ve been using for the last few years. And we think what we’ve laid out to you today is going to be fun and entertaining, and that’s really what it’s all about.”
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