The Hockey Hall of Fame refused to return the puck to Olympic champion Hughes

The Hockey Hall of Fame has rejected a request from American forward Jack Hughes to return to him the puck with which he scored the winning goal in overtime of the 2026 Olympic final against Canada. This was announced on March 18 by the ESPN sports portal.

"The puck never belonged to Jack <...>. For every donated artifact, we have a paper trail and signed documents about its provenance," said Hockey Hall of Fame curator Philip Pritchard.

Hughes himself previously told the channel that he considers the current situation unfair and would like to take the puck to transfer it to his father's personal collection.

"I'm trying to get it (the puck — Ed.). This, in my opinion, is nonsense <...> Why do they need this puck?" said the hockey player.

However, the Hall of Fame management emphasized that the museum is a non-profit organization, which imposes legal restrictions on the return of exhibits. In addition, the curators noted that their goal is to preserve the history of the game for fans, so the personal emotions of the players cannot be the basis for issuing historical values.

Despite the controversy, Hughes later admitted that it was a great honor for him to see the puck on display at the hockey museum. Along with Hughes' puck, Megan Keller's puck, which brought Olympic gold to the U.S. women's national team at the same Games, will remain in Toronto.

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