Concerns Continue To Grow Over Major Lack of Excitement and Ticket Sales for the Four-Nations Face-Off

The 2026 Winter Olympics is right around the corner, and with the NHL confirming the return of their players, it may end up becoming the biggest and most competitive Olympic Games for hockey in history.

To build that anticipation, the NHL agreed to a round-robin tournament involving Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland to take place in February, with the announcement of all four rosters coming with plenty of hype back in December.

Unfortunately, though, it appears as though that excitement is not translating to ticket sales, with TSN's Chris Johnston revealing that there are some alarm bells going off for the NHL and the NHLPA after noting that there are plenty of good seats still available for the event.

While it's not a full-on crisis yet, Johnston notes that some behind the event are much more concerned than others, which isn't a good sign given how much energy was put into making this a marquee event on the NHL calendar.

It's unclear exactly why tickets aren't moving however, with some fans in the comments suggesting that pricing and the lack of teams at the event are behind the slow sales.

With stars like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Aleksander Barkov, and Sidney Crosby all on the roster, the league was hoping that their simple presence would move tickets and interest, but as of right now, it's simply not happening.

Ultimately, as the hype builds, the hope is that either the league decreases prices or fan interest builds, but given that this isn't expected to become an annual tournament, it's safe to say that nobody would be shocked if the arena wasn't filled up for the event.