United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin might put the USA and Russia back on the ice in international hockey.&nbsp;



During a lengthy phone call between the two leaders, which focused on the war in Ukraine and other critical issues, they discussed the potential of <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/">NHL</a> and KHL stars being included in hockey games between the two nations.&nbsp;



Should those games come to fruition, the goal would be to host them in both countries.&nbsp;



“Donald Trump supported Vladimir Putin’s idea to organize hockey matches in the USA and Russia between Russian and American players playing in the NHL and KHL,” the Kremlin released in a write-out statement of the call.



<a href="https://x.com/reporterchris/status/1902081373407518954">Added the NHL:</a> “We have just become aware of the conversation between President Trump and President Putin. Obviously, we were not a party to those discussions, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.”<div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="151"></div>



White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not note sporting interests in the White House’s news release.&nbsp;



Russia has not competed in any IIHF international competitions – including the World Championships, World Juniors or other age group tournaments – since the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/russia-belarus-to-remain-banned-from-iihf-tournaments-in-2025-26">IIHF banned them in February 2022</a> following the invasion of Ukraine. 



The NHL did not include Russia in the 4 Nations Face-Off, opting to go with Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland.&nbsp;



At the Olympic level, Russia has not competed as Team Russia since Sochi 2014 due to a partial doping ban from the International Olympic Committee. At PyeongChang 2018, they won men’s hockey gold as Team Olympic Athlete of Russia due to a doping ban against many Russian athletes. Similarly, they competed as the Russian Olympic Committee at Beijing 2022.&nbsp;<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="132"></div>



The IOC and IIHF have not confirmed the status of Team Russia or individual Russian athletes at <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/report-countries-to-name-first-six-players-for-2026-olympic-rosters-in-june">Milano-Cortina 2026</a>. If Russia is not allowed to compete, France will take its qualifying spot in both men’s and women’s tournaments.&nbsp;



The last time Team USA and Team Russia faced off in men’s senior international competition was Feb. 17, 2018, in the round robin at the Sochi 2014 Olympics.