Savard, hockey legends thrilled for NHL's return to 2026 Olympics

TERREBONNE, Quebec -- Serge Savard will be among the millions tuned in February to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, when NHL players will return to the global five-ring stage for the first time since 2014.

“As a player, about the only thing I didn’t do was play in the Olympics,” Savard said. “I guess playing for Canada in 1972 and 1976 is the equivalent but if I was a player today, I’d really love to go and represent my country in the Olympics.”

Savard won the Stanley Cup eight times between 1968-79 as a Hall of Fame defenseman with the Montreal Canadiens. He twice represented his country in the international arena -- as a member of Team Canada in the historic eight-game 1972 Summit Series, pitting an NHL all-star team against a select squad of Soviets, and then wearing a stylized maple leaf during the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup.

The 79-year-old spoke at his sixth annual invitational golf tournament held Tuesday at Le Mirage, 15 miles north of Montreal, a major fundraiser for his charitable work on behalf of the University of Sherbrooke.

Members of the 1976 Canada Cup team pose for a photo before the Serge Savard Invitational at Le Mirage Golf Club on Aug. 12, 2025. From left: Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe, Lanny McDonald, Bill Barber, Gilbert Perreault, coach Scotty Bowman, Darryl Sittler, Serge Savard, Bobby Orr, Bobby Clarke, Larry Robinson, Marcel Dionne, Reggie Leach, Steve Shutt, Peter Mahovlich, Danny Gare.

The event would raise a record $3.5 million to provide athletic bursaries for student athletes, the tournament also announcing a $6 million donation from Montreal businessman and philanthropist Herbert Black, the tournament’s president, to create a men’s and women’s hockey program for the university.

This year’s tournament saluted Canada’s 1976 Canada Cup championship team, 18 on that roster ultimately Hall of Famers. Savard brought in coach Scotty Bowman to join 14 players of that team who arrived from around North America.

Twelve nations will compete for gold in Milano Cortina, the sixth time NHL players have been part of the Olympic tournament. Czechia won gold in 1998, followed by Canada in 2002, ending a 50-year gold-medal drought in so doing, with Sweden winning in 2006 and Canada going back-to-back in 2010 and 2014.

Sidney Crosby returns for his third Olympics wearing Team Canada’s jersey, having won gold in 2010 and 2014.

Sidney Crosby, here as captain of Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, will represent his country for the third time in the Olympic Winter Games.

“I have great respect for Sidney, for his play and his leadership,” Savard said of the Pittsburgh Penguins captain.

Include Darryl Sittler, who scored the championship-clinching overtime goal in the 1976 Canada Cup, among those who’s happy the NHL is back in the Olympic arena.

“I’m sure Sid is excited,” he said of Crosby, who famously scored the 2010 Vancouver Games gold-medal winning goal against the U.S. 7:40 into overtime. “As he’s getting a bit older, I’m sure he cherishes this opportunity. He’ll do a good job and be the leader of the team.”

Lanny McDonald, the past chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame and 1989 Stanley Cup champion with the Calgary Flames, makes no secret of his admiration of Crosby.

1976 Canada Cup teammates Bobby Orr (l.) and Lanny McDonald at the 2025 Serge Savard Invitational golf tournament.

“Sidney is my all-time favorite player, with all due respect to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon and others,” McDonald said. “He does everything right. He makes everyone on the ice better just by being Sidney.

“I think it’s absolutely fabulous that NHL players are back in the Olympics. It’s best-on-best and what better way to prove who is the top country at this time?”

Said Sittler: “Depending on where the Olympics are, there’s a time change and disruption to the NHL season. But at the same time, it gives everyone the chance to see the best players in the world play against each other. I like it from that point of view.”

Sittler expects the pressure to be felt equally by Canada and the U.S., saying that Sweden, the 2006 Torino Olympics gold medalist, and Finland can never be underestimated.

1976 Team Canada forward Darryl Sittler comes to goalie Rogie Vachon’s aid, Czechoslovakia forward Peter Stastny looking for a loose puck during the final game of the tournament on Sept. 15, 1976 at the Montreal Forum. Sittler would score the championship-clinching goal in overtime.

“The expectation for Canada going in is to win the gold medal,” he said. “As nation, we feel we’re No. 1 and have been for a long time and we want to stay in that position.

“The Americans have more players to draw from and there are more U.S. players than ever before in the NHL. If Canada and the U. S. get into the Olympic gold-medal game, it would create huge audiences in North America for sure, building on the 4 Nations Face-Off of last winter.

“Americans want to be No. 1. They have players with a lot of character and they’ve grown a lot as a nation. Those young guys who are coming up have the same characteristics and personality traits as Canadians as far as being competitive and playing tough hockey. It will make for a good Olympics for sure.”

Renewing acquaintances at Le Mirage with former Philadelphia Flyers teammates Bobby Clarke, Reggie Leach and Bill Barber, Sittler added that the unexpected can happen in a single-game knockout format. Canada needn’t be reminded of that.

From left, Philadelphia Flyers legends Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber at the Serge Savard Invitational.

“When it comes to advancing to the medal round, anything can happen,” he said. “With Crosby and those guys in the lineup, Canada lost to Denmark (2-1 in the quarterfinal) at this year’s world championship. That was crazy.”

Bob Gainey won the Stanley Cup five times with the Canadiens, his only NHL team. He’s excited about the Olympic tournament ahead, and understands why fans feel the same way.

“From the point of view of a fan, we love to see all those great players collected,” said the four-time Frank J. Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defensive forward.

“When they’re tied together under their national flag, whichever team it is, there’s an added incentive and bonus. They really feel engaged with their teammates and who they’re representing.

Members of the 1976 Canada Cup team attending the Serge Savard Invitational are featured on a large banner at the red-carpet entrance of the Le Mirage clubhouse. Top row, from left: Bobby Clarke, Marcel Dionne, Serge Savard, Bob Gainey, Reggie Leach, Peter Mahovlich. Middle row: Lanny McDonald, Gilbert Perreault, Bobby Orr, Larry Robinson, Steve Shutt. Bottom row: Darryl Sittler, Danny Gare, Guy Lapointe, coach Scotty Bowman, Bill Barber.

“For the sport, to be in the Olympics is to be worldwide. People will be watching from all different countries and that’s how a sport like the NHL, or any others that are in the Olympics, gain prominence and grow.”

Canadiens legend Yvan Cournoyer, whose 10 Stanley Cup titles with the Canadiens are the most won by any living player, had a starring role in the 1972 Summit Series, which he regards as his Olympics.

“It’s a long NHL season, long playoffs, so something different like the Olympics, a different format, is really good,” he said. “People enjoyed the 4 Nations Face-Off, and the Olympics is 12 teams, not four.

“In international hockey, like the NHL, you have to prove you’re the best. That’s what we wanted to do in 1972, and what Canada proved in the 4 Nations Face-Off. A lot of today’s players haven’t had a chance to go to the Olympics. They’ll learn that when you put your country’s sweater on, you’re not just representing your city or your team, but your entire nation.”

Larry Robinson watches practice from Canada’s bench during the 1976 Canada Cup.

Larry Robinson, who with Savard and Guy Lapointe made up the Canadiens’ legendary “Big Three” on defense during the 1970s, wishes he’d had the opportunity to play in the Olympics, as do all the legends who had assembled for Savard’s tournament.

“You can win all your Stanley Cups (he won six as a player) and everything else, but to be able to represent your country is just something,” he said.

“Playing for your country is definitely different. Don’t get me wrong, winning the Stanley Cup is pretty darned good, too. But that’s a much longer process -- through 180 days, another two and half months of banging your head. The Olympics is a much shorter term.

“For these players now, as it was when I played in the Canada Cup, they’ll see guys that they’ve been running into the boards, that they hate to play against, and now they’re teammates.”

Marcel Dionne in his 1972 Summit Series portrait, and in 1981 Canada Cup action at the Montreal Forum.

Marcel Dionne was a member of Canada’s Summit Series team, though just having turned 21 he didn’t see action. The sniper from Drummondville, Quebec, dazzled to be practicing with many of his heroes, would soon play plenty of international hockey, representing Canada in the 1976 and 1981 Canada Cup and three world championships.

“I hope it’s special for the kids who go to the Olympics,” Dionne said, picking Paul Henderson’s 1972 series-clinching goal in Moscow over Crosby’s 2010 “Golden Goal” in Vancouver for the greatest moment in Canadian international hockey history.

“From 1972 onward, we saw how dominant the Europeans could be -- Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, soon players from Sweden. The Olympics are different than what we experienced in 1972. That was much more political.”

Goalie Jose Theodore represented Canada in the world junior and world championships and was a member of his country’s 2004 World Cup of Hockey team. He still fondly remembers tugging on his first Canada jersey at age 14, during a training camp in Calgary.

Theodore views the Olympics, and any occasion to represent one’s country, as almost a life-changing experience for a player.

“I remember the first time that NHL players went to the Olympics in 1998 (Nagano, Japan), it was a big thing,” he said. “Every time you have a chance to see the best players in the world, it’s great. We saw what the 4 Nations Face-Off did; I didn’t expect something that big. Representing your country is a thrill for the players, a huge source of pride, and it’s a big treat for the fans.”

Top photo: Serge Savard at his 2025 invitational golf tournament at Le Mirage Golf Club in Terrebonne, Quebec.