With Olympics Over, NHL Resumes Regular Season

Article By

Larry Henry

Last Updated: Feb 25^th, 2026

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With Olympics Over, NHL Resumes Regular Season

The NHL is back in action this week, following Team USA’s overtime 2-1 win over Canada in the Winter Olympics gold medal game last Sunday. Finland captured the bronze medal.

With only seven weeks before the April 16 end of the regular season, NHL players are greeting up for a run at the Stanley Cup. The players representing different countries at the Olympics in Italy are lacing the skates back up for the NHL restart on Wednesday (Feb. 25)

Among the players heading back to NHL teams are the U.S. Olympians who attended President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Trump awarded Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck, pictured, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Hellebuyck is the first ice hockey player to receive the honor. Against the Canadians, he stopped 41 shots on goal to deliver the U.S. men’s team its first hockey gold medal since the 1980 Miracle on Ice team won it at Lake Placid, New York.

At the 2026 games in Italy. the women’s U.S. hockey team also won the gold medal.

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Olympic All-Star Team

The following list is posted on the nhl.com website. Of the Team USA representatives below, Hellebuyck plays in the NHL for the Winnipeg Jets. Hughes plays for the Minnesota Wild.

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 All-Star Team

Most Valuable Player
Connor McDavid, Team Canada

Tournament Directorate Three Best Players
Best Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck, Team USA
Best Defenseman: Quinn Hughes, Team USA
Best Forward: Connor McDavid, Team Canada

Media All-Star Team
Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck, Team USA
Defenseman: Quinn Hughes, Team USA
Defenseman: Cale Makar, Team Canada
Forward: Connor McDavid, Team Canada
Forward: Macklin Celebrini, Team Canada
Forward: Juraj Slafkovsky, Team Slovakia

Other standout Team USA players and their NHL teams include Quinn Hughes’ brother Jack Hughes (who scored the overtime goal to clinch the gold medal while missing part of two teeth knocked out earlier in the game) of the New Jersey Devils; Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs; Matt Boldy, Minnesota Wild; and brothers Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators, and Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers.

Note: Despite its early start time on Sunday morning in the U.S., the Olympic gold medal game between Team USA and Team Canada attracted 18.6 million average viewers and 26 million peak viewers, according to a social media post by The Athletic. This was the most-watched sporting event with a pre-9 a.m. start time in U.S. history, The Athletic noted.

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