Today a new report has come out that Gary Bettman and the NHL are looking to work with the IIHF to make a major rule change ahead of the Olympics in Italy. With the <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl/news/insider-reveals-one-player-was-blacklisted-from-4-nations-face-off-team-due-to-character-concerns' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>NHL coming back to international competitions this year with the 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament</a> their influence on other international competitions has also returned. This evening a report from Bernd Freimueller revealed that the NHL is looking to get a major rule changed regarding the rosters for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Games in Milano Cortina. According to the report from Freimueller the NHL is hoping to allow players with Italian heritage to play with team Italy which automatically qualifies for the Olympic Games as the host. Normally a player would need to be playing in Italy for at least 16 months to be eligible to play on the team however it seems the NHL and Gary Bettman are hoping to have influence on this rule. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/bfreimueller/status/1866764545114439863'> </a></blockquote></div> Often when the Olympics are held in a nontraditional hockey country the IIHF does try and help those countries field a team that would be more competitive than in other years. For example, the 2022 Olympic Games were held in Beijing, China and the IIHF did help players gain citizenship to be able to play for the team that ordinarily wouldn't have. <h3>Could Italy be a darkhorse team for the 2026 Olympic Games?</h3> During the lead-up to the Olympic Games in 2022 several players who previously did not have Chinese citizenship but had been playing for the KHL squad Kunlun Red Star were given a fast track to Chinese citizenship and played in the 2022 Olympic Games. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1491760100306046976'> </a></blockquote></div> This is something we could see on an even more grand scale in the 2026 Olympic Games if the NHL achieves its goal players like Max Pacioretty, Andrew Mangiapane, Alex Pietrangelo, and many others with familial links to Italy would have an opportunity to head to the Olympics. While it is difficult to know exactly how good the Italian team would be with these changes it would certainly allow them to at least be competitive with some of the other countries at the 2026 Olympics.