The punches flew nine seconds in. The anthem was still fresh in the crowd’s mind when the Tkachuk brothers dropped their gloves, launching one of the most chaotic and talked-about starts to any hockey game in recent memory. That was the USA vs. Canada showdown at the Four Nations Face-Off, a bold experiment by the NHL that replaced the league’s All-Star Weekend in February 2025. Held in Montreal and Boston, the tournament brought together four national powerhouses: the USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland in what the league called a return to “best-on-best” hockey.
While NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stuck to a familiar celebrity-laden format that same weekend, the NHL took a gamble and won. With massive viewership, viral moments, and real emotional stakes, hockey’s midseason pivot left the NBA’s All-Star offering feeling flat. Now, five months later, the man behind the move—NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman—is finally speaking out.
In a new video clip posted by Pat McAfee on X, Bettman joined The Pat McAfee Show and was asked whether that Four Nations moment felt like a real turning point for hockey in the U.S. “Talk about the state of the sport,” McAfee said. “It feels like that was a real, like, kickstart to hockey becoming a huge part of Americana.” Bettman agreed. “I think over the last three decades, we’ve seen an upward trajectory pretty consistently,” he said. “On Four Nations, it was the pent-up demand for international best-on-best competition. We think we do that as well, if not better, than anybody.” He emphasized how much it meant to the players, so much that some returned to their NHL clubs injured, having left everything on the ice for their countries.
“There was so much demand for international best on best competition..
The Four Nations was really important to our players and you could see how much it meant to them” ~ Gary Bettman #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/biQljkxFjo
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 1, 2025
That passion showed. In a sport sometimes criticized for being too polished and too structured, the Four Nations Face-Off was raw. Real. From the viral anthem-fight moment to the heartbreak of OT losses, it reminded fans what the All-Star Game no longer could: that hockey is built on emotion and identity. “It was something that was really important to our players, which is why, when you saw the event, you could see that they were all in—which is why, I guess, it drew such positive comparison to All-Star Games in some of the other sports,” Bettman said.
“This meant a lot to the players to represent their countries, and they showed it in the way the competition played out. And they showed it even after Four Nations was over, based on the number of players that came back to their NHL teams injured.” Fans got it. The ratings proved it. And players embraced it fully. With NHL players set to return to the Olympics in 2026 and a new World Cup of Hockey in 2028, the Four Nations was more than a one-off; it was a launchpad for the league’s global future.
Whether the All-Star Game ever returns remains uncertain. But after what happened in Montreal and Boston, it might not be missed. As Bettman put it, this was about giving the game back to its roots. And judging by the response, from locker rooms to living rooms, it may have been one of the best decisions the NHL has made in years.
This is a developing story…
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