Several current, former Penguins players have experience at Winter Olympics

Following an absence of 12 years, NHL players will be permitted to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, commissioner Gary Bettman revealed Friday afternoon.

Players will also be free to represent their home countries in the 2030 Winter Olympics, a host location for which has yet to be determined.

“The international composition of National Hockey League rosters is unparalleled, and NHL Players take great pride in representing their countries,” Bettman said in a release. “We are pleased that today, after intense collaborative efforts with the NHL Players’ Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation, we can formally announce that NHL Players will participate in both the 2026 and 2030 Olympic hockey tournaments.”

The 2026 Olympics are slated to run from Feb. 6-22.

Friday’s release also announced that hockey will be played on NHL-sized (200 feet long, 85 feet wide) rinks, as opposed to international-sanctioned (197 feet by 98 ½ feet) sizes.

The last Olympics to feature NHL athletes was in 2014, when Team Canada, featuring Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby as well as Jeff Carter, captured its second consecutive gold medal in the games held in Sochi, Russia.

Crosby, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime to top the U.S. in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, would be 38 in February of 2026, when Milan games commence.

Previously, NHL players participated in the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 Winter Olympics.

Crosby’s Olympic achievements are hard to top, but he is not the only current Penguin to have a medal to display upon his mantle.

Erik Karlsson would remember the 2014 Olympics well, as it was he and the Swedes who were the runners-up to Crosby’s Canadians.

The then-23-year-old Karlsson, playing in his second NHL campaign at the time, took home a silver medal, tying with former Penguin Phil Kessel for the total scoring lead in the tournament.

The 2014 games proved disappointing for Evgeni Malkin and the Russian national team, which failed to medal, placing fifth on home turf.

Malkin was part of a formidable Russian club that featured Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vladimir Tarasenko and others.

The Russians and Americans met during the preliminary round in what ended up being an unforgettable game, with current Washington Capital T.J. Oshie lifting the U.S. to a 3-2 shootout win.

The NHL is set to announce its return to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.

Let’s take this time to watch a moment in history ???? pic.twitter.com/ST2mZjMtt4

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Fellow Penguins alternate captain Kris Letang has never represented Canada at the Olympics; his last international appearance with Canada came at the 2007 World Junior Championships.

Of the Penguins’ eight American players currently on roster, Jake Guentzel would make for an interesting candidate to compete with the U.S. come 2026.

Drew O’Connor is fresh off his own international debut at the 2023 World Championships, where he scored three goals and had five assists for the U.S., which finished fourth.

The Penguins have plenty of history when it comes to Olympic participation.

Mario Lemieux won a gold medal with the Canadians at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Utah, while Jaromir Jagr won gold with the Czech Republic in Nagano, Japan, in 1998, as well as a bronze medal at the 2006 games held in Turin, Italy.

Herb Brooks, who was the Penguins’ director of player development at the time of his death in a car crash in 2003, famously coached the 1980 U.S. underdog squad to a stunning “Miracle on Ice” upset over the Soviet Union at Lake Placid.

The year before his death, he had coached the U.S. to a silver medal in Salt Lake City.

Additionally, “Badger” Bob Johnson, who guided the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 1991, was the U.S. coach at the 1976 Winter Olympics.