The National Hockey League has more international games in its future — and possibly in some new places.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, currently at the European Player Media Tour in Prague, said Wednesday that the league has “a list of places we’d like to bring teams and play games and develop markets.”
In the upcoming 2024-25 season, the league will play two pre-season games in Germany, two regular-season games in Czechia and two regular-season games in Finland.
Including these scheduled games, the NHL has hosted 20 regular-season games in Europe since 2017, along with 13 pre-season games in Europe, Asia and Australia.
According to the deputy commissioner, despite those 20 regular-season games all being played in Sweden (nine), Finland (six) and Czechia (five), some other locations should be expected in the future.
“To the extent we’ve kind of seemed to have settled into a Finland, [Sweden], Czechia rotation, I wouldn’t get too comfortable with that, because I think it will change up probably in the short term,” said Daly.
He then pinpointed England, Germany and Switzerland as some target destinations.
“I think everybody probably has in their minds, kind of the priority markets. I think we want to go back to London. I think the players and [NHL] Players’ Association want to go back to London and have a game there. I think Germany and Switzerland are both prime candidates for regular-season games in the future, so probably in the not-too-distant future.”
The NHL has never played a regular-season game in Switzerland, but has played one in Germany (2011) and two in London (2007).
In terms of pre-season games, Daly also suggested that Australia could host more in the future. The league held its first two exhibition games there last September on a temporary ice sheet inside Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
“I think it was a positive experience. You start with the players and the teams and whether they had a positive experience, and obviously it’s a long way to go to play two pre-season games,” Daly said. “But I think the feedback from both clubs was good, which makes it easier to convince the next two clubs that Australia would be a worthwhile initiative.”