When the NHL next hosts an All-Star Game, it will be on Long Island.
After a hiatus in 2025 for the Four Nations Tournament, the All-Star Game will come to UBS Arena in 2026, the league announced during the first intermission of the NHL Stadium Series match between the Islanders and Rangers.
It will mark the first All-Star Game on Long Island since Nassau Coliseum hosted festivities in 1983, when Wayne Gretzky won the game’s MVP with four goals in the third period, and the first league event hosted since UBS Arena opened in 2021.
By then, the Islanders will hope to have hotels opened near the arena as well as shopping and restaurants nearby, both of which are still in the process of being built.
“We are honored to be invited to host the National Hockey League, the game’s finest players and fans from around the world to join us in New York for the 2026 NHL All-Star Weekend,” Islanders owner Scott Malkin said in a statement. “Whether our guests will be watching the talented players on the ice in UBS Arena, a building built specifically for hockey, shopping in Belmont Park Village or enjoying pre and post-game festivities in The Park, the 2026 All-Star weekend will show NHL fans the outstanding destination we have for hockey, shopping and entertainment.”
The 2026 All-Star Game will function as a sendoff before the league sends players to the Milan-Cortina Olympics, the first time since 2014 that the Olympic tournament will be conducted as best-on-best.
There was a question whether the league would hold an All-Star Game, and it will be interesting to see whether any stars opt out to play it safely ahead of the Olympic tournament.
Either way, the weekend is something the Islanders have been waiting for since UBS Arena opened and an occasion the organization will look forward to.
“The National Hockey League is thrilled to have the best and brightest of our game hosted at the spectacular UBS Arena for the 2026 NHL All-Star Weekend,’’ commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.
“We have been looking forward to UBS Arena playing host to one of our major league events since before construction of this wonderful arena began. We have every confidence that the Islanders organization, led by Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky, will deliver a celebration that will make the greater New York region and the NHL proud.”
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