The NHL and NHL Players' Association announced in November of last year that the World Cup of Hockey will not be played in February 2024. This is an absolute travesty that the NHL and NHLPA can't see the value of having the NHLs best players playing against each other. It has been 7 years since the last World Cup of Hockey has been played and if there is no World Cup of Hockey tournament in 2024, it will be 8 years since this tournament hasn't been played. Now some articles are saying that the NHL and NHLPA are trying to work out something so that there is a World Cup of Hockey in 2025, but that is still two years away and by that point, some of the legendary players playing now might not even make the team for the respective countries.
After the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic, in which Japan beat the USA to win the Championship, Superstar Connor McDavid praised the baseball because of the Ohtani vs Trout showdown, and stated that "It's what we've been asking for in hockey for a long time, right? McDavid went on to say that he was the NHL to do a best-on-best type format as well, which might be great for the exposure of the game. The Last time McDavid played in the World Cup of Hockey, was after his first season in the NHL and Sidney Crosby had just won his second Stanley Cup. The fact that McDavid and Crosby have never played with or against each other on the international stage is unfortunate and would be a tragedy for the sport of Hockey. To have two generational talents in the NHL at the same time and not have them compete against each other on the World Stage tells us everything we need to know about how well the NHL promotes its stars and its product.
As I stated in a podcast not too long ago, the NHL does a poor job of promoting its superstars and marketing their individual rivalries besides the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry which was handed to them on a platter because they were drafted by rival organizations and they played each other in the playoffs so many times. The NHL needs to start promoting new individual rivalries between many of the up-and-coming young stars in the league now because Crosby and Ovechkin can only play for so long. One of the best ways to do this is to put them in a best-on-best type tournament to replace the current all-star game which has become unwatchable. The All-Star game used to be a celebration of the NHL's best stars, but now its become too gimmicky and the players don't even try during the 3 on 3 games. If they played a 17-day tournament with at least eight national teams, including a Team Europe and in North America U23 team. The games would be set to be played in North America and some in Europe, which would be great for the exposure of the sport. Since the NHL chose not to send players to the Winter Olympics in 2018 and 2022, and if the next possible World Cup is in 2025, it would be 9 years before the best international teams made of their top players could face off against each other.
If it were up to me, I would use the same format they used in 2016; of course the powerhouses like Canada,USA, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, and team Europe, which could be very good now. In addition to these 6 teams, I would also add a Europe U23 team and have a team made up of just Russian NHL players to replace Russia, as they might not be eligible to play in the Tournament to political tensions. The World Cup will consist of 8 teams and two groups, with group play followed by a single eliminating round robin, then the Final two teams will play a best of 3 series. The World Cup of Hockey is a great way to link the stars of today to the stars of the future and if the NHL plays its cards right, it might be possible to see McDavid, Bedard, and Crosby all play in the same tournament. If the NHL and NHLPA want the game to grow and reach new heights, they need to use the next World cup of Hockey tournament as a launching pad.
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