MANALAPAN, Fla. (AP) — The smashing success of the 4 Nations Face-Off replacing All-Star festivities with a compelling, competitive international tournament has the NHL rethinking what to do next February before players go to the Milan Olympics.
The league announced 13 months ago that the New York Islanders would host All-Star Weekend in early February 2026, and Commissioner Gary Bettman envisioned it as the ideal jumping off point for the Olympians to board planes for Italy. What that looks like, or when, is now up in the air.
“We’re reevaluating how we want to do things because I think we’ve raised the bar about as high as you can for an all-star game in any sport," Bettman said Wednesday at his news conference wrapping up the general managers' annual spring meeting. "And so we want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards that we’ve created.”
Putting aside unforeseen circumstances like the pandemic, postponing or canceling a marquee event is not something the league is known to do. Asked about a different format or even shifting the event at UBS Arena to 2027, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly multiple times said, “Everything's on the table.”
Daly added that a decision must be made “relatively soon" — at least before the playoffs begin April 19. An Islanders spokesperson deferred comment to the league office.
NHL players are participating in the Olympic men's hockey tournament for the first time since 2014, and there was not an All-Star Weekend then or in 2010 or '06. The last time the league did both was 2002.
NHL GMs spent a lot of time looking at video reviews, specifically coach's challenges for goaltender interference, but Bettman confirmed that no rule changes are being considered for next season.
“Three days of discussion about the game, no rule changes, which gives you a pretty good indication that the managers are certainly comfortable, if not more than pleased, with the current state of the game,” Bettman said.
After trying out 10-minute 3-on-3 overtime at the 4 Nations, there's no consideration to asking the players about going to that full time.
“I’m not a fan of the extended overtime because of ice conditions and the wear and tear on the players who would be playing the additional five minutes, and I worry about that in injuries," Bettman said.
Daly confirmed the 2025-26 season will begin Oct. 7.
Bettman for quite some time has shut down the idea of expanding the Stanley Cup playoffs beyond the 16-team tournament that has existed for decades, even as the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball tweaked their formats. That has not changed.
“I like exactly what we have, and if you look at the races that we’re having for the regular season, playoffs have started already," Bettman said. "We’re in our play-in tournament, and I think it’s terrific.”
The draft at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 27 and 28 will be the first to be decentralized, with team front offices at home or any location they choose but not in person to make picks. Teams voted 26-6 in favor of abandoning the centralized format to go to a model similar to what the NFL and NBA use, though GMs may be getting some cold feet about the decision.
“This is what the clubs said they wanted," Bettman said. “If there’s a desire to go back because the clubs miss each other, miss being on the floor together, we’ll put it back to a vote again. We can be flexible.”
Some big changes are coming to hockey’s development pipeline, with the NCAA making a landmark change to its eligibility rules that allows Canadian junior players to compete at U.S. colleges, as long as they are not paid more than actual and necessary expenses as part of that participation.
Bettman said the league and union are expected to discuss what might come of that shift and how it affects the draft, entry-level contracts and other things, though he refused to address hypothetical possibilities.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Fans wait to enter the new UBS Arena for the first New York Islanders NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames, on Nov. 20, 2021, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Senior military officers from more than 30 countries across Europe and beyond met in England on Thursday to flesh out plans for an international peacekeeping force for Ukraine as details of a partial ceasefire are worked out.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he didn’t know whether there would be a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war, but “we are making steps in the right direction" as a “coalition of the willing” led by Britain and France moves into an “operational phase.”
“We hope there will be a deal but what I do know is if there is a deal, the time for planning is now,” he said during a visit to the meeting of military planners at a British base in Northwood, just outside London. “It’s not after a deal is reached.”
“It is vitally important we do that work, because we know one thing for certain which is a deal without anything behind it is something that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will breach," he said.
Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders this week, though it remained to be seen when it might take effect and what possible targets would be off limits to attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in Norway on Thursday, said that although he originally had sought a broader ceasefire, he was committed to working with the U.S. to stop arms being directed at power production and civilian facilities.
“I raised this issue with President Trump and said that our side would identify what we consider to be civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said. “I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding about what the sides are agreeing on.”
The tentative deal to partially rein in the three-year war came after Putin rebuffed Trump’s push for a full 30-day ceasefire. The difficulty in getting the combatants to stop targeting one another’s energy infrastructure highlights the challenges Trump will face in trying to fulfill his campaign pledge to quickly end the war.
Negotiators from Moscow and the U.S. will meet Monday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Sergei Ushakov told Russian news agencies.
Zelenskyy said team would also meet with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia to discuss technical issues, and then the U.S. will act as an intermediary running “shuttle diplomacy” between Kyiv and Moscow.
Despite the negotiations, hundreds of drone attacks were launched overnight by both sides, injuring several people and damaging buildings.
Kropyvnytskyi, a city in central Ukraine, faced its biggest attack of the war as about four dozen drones injured 14 people, including a couple with serious burns, and damaged houses and apartments.
"In a cruel twist, enemy drones hit Myru Street (‘Peace Street’ in English),” Andrii Raikovych, head of the regional administration, said.
More than 50 drones were intercepted in Russia's Saratov region — the largest attack of its kind in the area — shattering windows in a hospital and damaging two kindergartens, a school and about 30 homes, Gov. Roman Busargin said. The attacks were focused on Engels, an industrial city near Russia's main base for nuclear-capable strategic bombers.
In its latest estimate, the U.K. Defense Ministry said Russian troops suffered 900,000 casualties — including up to 250,000 killed — since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago. That’s a jump of 200,000 from a fall estimate.
Western estimates of the parties’ war losses have varied and couldn’t be independently verified.
War losses have been a tightly guarded secret in Russia. The Defense Ministry’s most recent figures were from 2023 when it reported 6,000 deaths, which was regarded as unreliable.
The U.K. did not release a similar estimate for Ukrainian casualties.
Zelenskyy told NBC News last month that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, and more than 350,000 wounded. Those figures couldn’t be independently confirmed and could be an undercount.
If peace comes to Ukraine, the number of troops that would help enforce it is vague. Officials have cited figures of between 10,000 and 30,000 troops as part of what's been termed a “reassurance force."
Only Britain and France have said they are willing to send troops, though countries including Australia, Canada, France and Finland say they are open to being involved in some way.
At Thursday's meeting, which involved 31 countries, Starmer said planning was broken down into four areas: "the sea in one scenario, the sky, obviously land and borders, and regeneration.”
Russia has said it will not accept any troops from NATO countries being based on Ukrainian soil. And Trump has given no sign the U.S. will guarantee reserve firepower in case of any breaches of a truce. Starmer says the plan won’t work without that U.S. “backstop.”
Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at military think-tank RUSI, said Thursday that the purpose of the Western military force would be to “give Ukraine confidence that a violation of the ceasefire would lead to the Russians having to contend with European forces, and in particular European air power.”
In addition to the meeting in England, EU leaders in Brussels planned to discuss Ukraine’s security needs with Zelenskyy during a meeting about ramping up defense spending after the Trump administration signaled Europe must take care of its own security.
The German parliament’s budget committee is expected to decide Friday to clear up to 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in extra funding for German military aid to Ukraine this year. That comes after parliament voted to loosen Germany’s debt rules for military and security spending.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said European plans for raising military spending conflicted with Putin and Trump's efforts to reach a peace deal.
“Europe has engaged in militarization and has turned into a party of war,” Peskov said.
Residents of Kyiv voiced a mix of optimism, skepticism and confusion about a potential ceasefire.
Olena Morozova, an accountant, said she hoped Putin would agree to the terms of a peace agreement while Volodymyr Zakusylo, a retiree, said he didn’t trust Trump and he thinks Russia will renege on any agreement.
Natalia Volkotrub, a medic, said she didn’t know what to think because Russia had betrayed Ukraine when it failed to provide the protection it offered when Kyiv agreed to surrender its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“We gave up our arms and were promised peace and protection,” she said. “But as of today, all promises were broken.”
Lawless reported from London. Bela Szandelszky and Yehor Konovalov in Kyiv, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, Geir Moulson in Berlin; Lorne Cook in Brussels, and Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he visits a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Northwood, London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and John Healey, Secretary of State for Defence, center left, look at a Ukraine map as they visit a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Northwood, London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a visit to a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Northwood, London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Northwood, London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
General Nick Perry Chief of Joint Operations, left speaks during a visit of Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Northwood, London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and John Healey, Secretary of State for Defence, center left, listen as they visit a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Greater London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to a Canadian Lt Colonel as he visits a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Northwood, London, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian drone attack in Kupyansk, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, residents clear the rubbles following a Russian drone attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, searchers and rescuers clear the rubbles following a Russian drone attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 20, 2025, a Russian "Grad" self-propelled multiple rocket launcher prepares to fire towards Ukrainian positions in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Dobropillya, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, searchers and rescuers clear the rubbles following a Russian drone attack in Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a storehouse following a Russian attack in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 20, 2025, a Russian "Grad" self-propelled multiple rocket launcher fires towards Ukrainian positions in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a storehouse following a Russian attack in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a storehouse following a Russian attack in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 20, 2025, a Russian "Grad" self-propelled multiple rocket launcher fires towards Ukrainian positions in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this combination of file photos, President Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, are seen at the Elysee Palace, Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris, and President Vladimir Putin, right, addresses a Technology Forum in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, left and center, Pavel Bednyakov, right)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks, during a joint press conference with Finland's President Alexander Stubb, at the Presidential Palace, in Helsinki, Finland, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)
