According to reports, and two separate sources I've contacted, NHL players will be participating in a World Cup of Hockey in September 2016. It has long been rumored that the return of the once fabled Canada Cup/World Cup was on its way and that NHL owners would love to transition to a World Cup of Hockey as opposed to sending players to the Olympics in the middle of the NHL season...
My sources tell me the event will take place in three countries and that the US, Canada and could be where some of the games are played. Sweden, Finland and Switzerland also would like to have games played in their countries and a rotation would likely take effect moving forward... There has been some discussion that the team which wins the tournament would be guaranteed some home games in the following tournament..four years later.
The Tournament would consist of eight teams , six of which we get automatic bids, and the other two would have a pre-tournament to qualify.
An announcement is forthcoming. "Likely towards the beginning of the season there will be a press conference and the NHL well announced their involvement," a source confirmed.
Gary Bettman even recently hinted that there would be an announcement shortly and he was excited at the possibility of bringing the World Cup back. There has been a lot of pressure on Bettman to get this done. While the Olympics are a great stage, there are also a huge risk for owners who potentially can lose players and/or momentum.
I am not convinced that this means the NHL will not be going to South Korea in 2018 however. There is a definite groundswell among NHL players to return to the Olympics again. I believe the hope among the owners is that the World Cup could scratch that itch and moving forward perhaps keep the NHLers home.
I am uncertain whether or not that will work, because the Olympics are well...the Olympics.
It is possible that both continue. Look at soccer...soccer has a World Cup alternating every 2 years with a Summer Olympics. I don't think the NHL wants that, but it's possible that we end up there.
The other benefit of having the tournament before the NHL season would be increasing the excitement heading into the year as opposed to breaking the momentum in the middle of the year. Also there is the hope here that the NHL World Cup would be able to piggyback on the end of the Summer Olympics.....keeping the nationalism alive as I reported this past winter.
What do you think? Should the NHL send their players to the World Cup of Hockey instead of the Olympics? or as well as the Olympics?
Hey signups have begun for another season of the HockeyBuzz Super League Fantasy Game!
Sign up here:
HBSL sign up
It's the best fantasy game every created. Of course, we're a little biased. The HBSL is a hybrid between a salary cap game and a head-to-head fantasy game. Each week you create your 20 man roster based on the actual NHL salary cap and the actual salary cap hits. You then face-off with a fellow hockey fan. At the end of the regular season, we throw the best 128 teams into a 7-week playoff.
There is a Season Ticket Holder bracket and a Free bracket.
Talk about this and more with us on Today's Buzzcast Live at 1pm
Join the Discussion:
»