{"id":469284,"date":"2026-02-24T07:41:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469284\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:41:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:41:29","slug":"nhl-teams-face-uncertain-olympics-timeline-for-team-usa-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469284\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL teams face uncertain Olympics timeline for Team USA stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Team USA men\u2019s hockey stars will be celebrating its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/olympics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> gold medal for a long time to come, but the NHL might have a bit of an issue when it comes to its top players returning to the league.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh off their stunning win over Canada in Sunday\u2019s Olympic gold medal game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/nhl\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL<\/a> teams are now wary of how long their top stars might be out.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>NHL clubs <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TSN_Sports\/status\/2025944860801318989\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">reportedly have big concerns<\/a> about Team USA Olympic stars needing extra rest. However, the timing of the Milan Cortina Games certainly doesn\u2019t benefit NHL teams ahead of the playoff push.<\/p>\n<p>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/donald-trump-tells-wild-jokes-team-usa-mens-hockey-wins-gold-medal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump tells wild jokes after Team USA men\u2019s hockey wins gold medal<\/a><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#8217;s unclear whether Team USA players will be back to join their clubs in time for when the NHL resumes. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IhikfbLg7r\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/IhikfbLg7r<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TSN (@TSN_Sports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TSN_Sports\/status\/2025944860801318989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 23, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Team USA stars like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/usa-star-jack-hughes-writes-special-message-olympic-sports-card\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">game-winning goal scorer Jack Hughes<\/a> and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck are some of the American players that will be pivotal for the NHL stretch run.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, American captain Auston Matthews is another name to watch as the Toronto Maple Leafs look to get their biggest star back in action. NHL games resume Wednesday for many franchises.<\/p>\n<p>However, Team USA will still be in party mode Monday as the team stays in Miami to celebrate at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/legendary-miami-club-reveals-team-usa-mens-hockey-team-party\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">popular nightclub E11even<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/jack-hughes-viral-bloody-postgame-olympic-gold-medal-interview\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jack Hughes goes viral with bloody postgame Olympic gold medal interview<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/default-1000-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-125624\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>USA players Auston Matthews and Connor Hellebuyck celebrate in the men\u2019s hockey gold medal game during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>The American players that captured gold in Italy even received a surprise call from president Donald Trump. The U.S. president asked the Olympic champions to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/donald-trump-tells-wild-jokes-team-usa-mens-hockey-wins-gold-medal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">visit the White House<\/a> after their memorable win against Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories on The Big Lead <\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>OLYMPICS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/final-2026-winter-olympics-medal-count-standings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Final 2026 Winter Olympics medal count, standings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NFL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/4-blockbuster-nfl-trades-we-want-to-see-before-the-2026-draft\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">4 blockbuster NFL trades we want to see before the 2026 draft<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NFL DRAFT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/2026-nfl-combine-day-to-day-schedule-how-to-watch\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 NFL Scouting Combine day-to-day TV schedule, how to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MLB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/mlb-power-rankings-as-2026-spring-training-has-begun\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB Power Rankings as 2026 Spring Training begins<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/olympics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Updated NBA Power Rankings as a new week begins<\/a><\/p>\n<p>VIRAL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/watch-johnny-gaudreau-children-team-usa-hockey-gold-medal-celebration\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch Johnny Gaudreau\u2019s children join Team USA hockey gold medal celebration<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team USA men\u2019s hockey stars will be celebrating its 2026 Winter Olympics gold medal for a long time&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[3189,58,5,4,3255,2787],"class_list":{"0":"post-469284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-team-usa","13":"tag-winter-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116124483211153949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}