This was one of the best World Championships in some time, really in great part thanks to the hosts.
The WHCs will get bolstered in future years in status as a trial for bubble players on Olympic teams. Years back it was almost meaningless for some of the NHL players to come. As long as international hockey is alive and well through the Olympics and/or proper World Cup, the WHCs will have relevance.
This year really showed the importance of great host cities such as Prague, and the upcoming few years look positive for this tournament in Stockholm, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Paris etc. Those are the kind of destinations that would sway a few NHL players that would improve the tournament to come or not.
I don't know if it's recent, but I feel like this tournament has consistently began after the end of the first round of NHL POs, which I think should always be a thing going forward. There are a very large number of significant players that come after their teams are bounced from the first round.
In some ways, the Czechs had won their golds in part due to *second* round playoff exits with guys like Necas, Pastrnak and Zacha being huge contributors, so if they pushed the Worlds back a little bit, nabbing a few second-round exit players would be huge for some teams like it was for the Czechs. I think we can bury the idea that "no one comes after the second round" because it made a huge deal this year.