Donald Trump & Vladimir Putin Discuss USA-Russia Hockey Series Despite Sanctions

International ice hockey has made its way back to the big stage.

The most recent example is the NHL’s Four Nations Face-Off, where stars from the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland participated in a tournament that replaced the standard All-Star game. The competition drew excitement and eyeballs. Canada vs. USA, the final, drew over 16 million viewers – the most ever for a non-NFL game on ESPN.

Much of that excitement came from the political atmosphere surrounding the matches. Canadian fans took to booing the American national anthem in the wake of comments from President Donald Trump about annexing Canada, and Trump weighed in on the contest several times, including a phone call to Team USA the morning of the Final.

The 2026 Winter Olympics are already on everyone’s mind, particularly as NHL players will be allowed to compete for the first time since 2014. But one massive hockey nation likely won’t be included.

Due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been banned from all events run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) since early 2022. This came atop its four-year ban from Olympic events as a result of widespread doping violations and also caused Russia’s exclusion from the Four Nations.

Needless to say, the bans are brutal for some of hockey’s biggest stars – Nikita Kucherov, who won the Art Ross Trophy for most points last season; Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy, both Vezina winners for best goaltending; and even Alexander Ovechkin, whose race to break Wayne Gretzky‘s all-time goals record has been well-documented.

The international political turmoil associated with Russian hockey at the moment makes it understandable, but no less surprising, that Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly proposed hockey matches between the USA and Russia on a Tuesday phone call with Trump. The Kremlin’s release states that “Donald Trump supported Vladimir Putin’s idea to organize hockey matches in the USA and Russia between Russian and American players playing in the NHL and KHL.”

The KHL refers to the Russian Kontinental Hockey League, comprised of 23 teams in Russia, Belarus, China and Kazakhstan.

As far as practical logistics go, though, any series seems at the very least far away. The NHL said that it had not been consulted on the possibility of an NHL-KHL series, and any such series would be subject to the approval of both NHL owners and the NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA).