NHL Partnering With Italian Soccer League Ahead Of Olympics

It's a partnership that makes no sense when you first hear it, but makes a ton of sense the more you think about it: The NHL and NHLPA have announced that they will be collaborating with the top soccer league in Italy, Lega Serie A.

That may sound a little random, but remember, the NHL is making a big return to the Olympics in 2026, and those Games take place in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The partnership will see some NHLers heading over to Europe to train with some Serie A players, while the league will also hold its NHL/NHLPA European Player Media Tour in Milan on Aug. 22.

"There's a lot of really cool things that we have planned," President of NHL Business, Keith Wachtel, said in a statement. "Inherently, many of our European players, they grew up playing soccer or football. You see before every game every team plays two-touch. It's something that's well known and common and you see it all the time."

Don't tell Gretzky. He famously hates when guys play soccer before games. Recently, he pointed out that soccer players never warm up by playing hockey.

Can't argue that.

"Now, take NHL players in Milan training and playing with some of the best soccer players in the world and capturing that content and delivering that content to not just the NHL fan base but a much broader fan base who are interested in sports," Wachetl added.

Around 30-40 NHLers will be part of the European media tour, and as odd as this partnership seems, I'm really happy to see that the league is doing it.

The Italians will be in the 2026 Olympic hockey tournament by being the host nation, but they're far from being a powerhouse, so it's good to see that the NHL recognizes that it's a place that could benefit from some hockey growth.

In the past, maybe they'd just sit back and assume the Olympics would take care of that for them, but I like that they're going all in to drum up excitement for the NHL's return and for the hockey tournament in general. 

It should be interesting, and hopefully it helps fill up arenas when the tournament gets underway next February.