Fans line up to enter UBS Arena before an Islanders game against the Minnesota Wild on April 4. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The nebulous Olympic send-off event at UBS Arena scheduled for February is off. In its place will be a real All-Star Game and skills competition at the Islanders’ home the following year.
An NHL source confirmed ESPN’s initial report on the league’s decision to scrap the event planned prior to the Winter Games in Italy. While the NHL had planned a marquee event for UBS Arena prior to sending its players to the Olympics, it never officially announced the event’s full format.
Instead, UBS Arena will host an All-Star weekend from Feb. 5-7, 2027.
The NHL first announced on Feb. 18, 2024, that UBS Arena, which opened in 2021, would host the 2026 All-Star Weekend.
But on April 29, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors at the NHL office in Manhattan, announced the change of plans to an Olympic send-off.
“We’ll have an event at UBS before we go to the Olympics but then we’ll do something that’s more focused on a major hockey event for the following year,” Bettman said that day. “We have a little bit of time to finalize what we’re doing.”
At the same time, Bettman did not specifically say whether the 2027 All-Star event would be at UBS Arena.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, speaking at the NHL Draft in Los Angeles on June 27, then affirmed the league would conduct a competitive All-Star event at UBS Arena in 2027.
Gov. Kathy Hochul sent an open letter to Bettman in May expressing her disappointment in the league’s decision to turn the 2026 All-Star Weekend into an Olympic kickoff event. Hochul urged the NHL to commit to bringing a major event of equal or greater value to All-Star Weekend to UBS Arena in 2027.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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