In an address to the media at the World Junior Championship in Halifax on Thursday, IIHF president Luc Tardif has said he wants the NHL to make its decision on participation for the 2026 Winter Olympics by 2024.

The NHL hasn’t participated on the world’s biggest stage since 2014 in Russia. They elected to skip the 2018 tournament in South Korea and then cited COVID-19 concerns as a reason for skipping 2022 in China.

In both cases, the decisions took place within a year of their respective tournaments, with the cancellation of participation in 2022 coming just two months earlier. With this deadline, it would give the IIHF and its member nation more time to come up with backup options.