Olympics: Bettman hints NHL won't play in 2018 and 2022

[Frank the Tank]

http://www.olympic.org/news/olympic...uture-of-the-olympic-movement-unveiled/241063

Olympic Agenda 2020: Strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement unveiled just today.

It's changing for the better.

I'll believe it when I see certain of these recommendations adopted and enforced. The IOC has changed previously only when the illusion of them being the magnanimous handlers of the Olympics is threatened (e.g., Atlanta and SLC bribery scandals). In reality, they currently act like an elite group that demands to be wooed both before and during the Olympic events. While the IOC may eventually respond to the emerging threat of them being too picky in their demands that they are running out of governments willing to spend in excess in order to look grand on the world stage, I believe it will be tough for elite IOC members to eliminate all the perks they demand of future Olympic hosts. Indeed, holding onto such demands will limit their future access to any country where the event spending is expected to be transparent, effective, and reasonable.

As of now, I do not blame the NHL or NHLPA for not wanting to commit to future Winter Olympics that involve sending players to distant locations in difficult to market time zones. Such events provide them with little to no benefit. Such a stance may force the IOC to consider the attendance of marquee athletes as part of the host selection process. It should not trump the other host selection criteria; however, the IOC should not take for granted the NHL players will attend any Olympic location they choose. Instead, if they want to hold hockey as the crown jewel event of a certain Olympics, they need to create an Olympics that world-class athletes and their sports' federations want to attend. Part of this process means the IOC also works on creating mutually beneficial relationships with said athletes and organizations in regards to media access.

 

[Mehar]

This is ridiculous. This is not a World Cup of Hockey. Imagine if they did this in Soccer (LOL)? The outcry would be a lot. Slovakia and Switzerland should be the 7th and 8th teams. Slovakia and Switzerland over the past decade have played teams tough whether in the Olympics or WHC. Switzerland beat Canada in 2006 Olympics and the Slovaks were a goal post away of tying team Canada in the 2010 Semis. Hope this is not a reality, but only talk. Would make the World Cup look like a joke.

In a follow up, this is only talk as of now, and we should all just reserve judgement. Like i said last night though-this is the dumbest idea i have ever come across in all of my years following hockey since i was a little kid. Slovakia and the Swiss should be the 7th and 8th teams. They play teams hard and are no pushovers as the last decade has shown.

 

[Canuckistani]

Slovakia and the Swiss should be the 7th and 8th teams. They play teams hard and are no pushovers as the last decade has shown.

Cutting the tournament down to six teams (given the performances of Slovakia and Switzerland) would have been an A-hole move.

Replacing the two with Euro/youth "all-star" teams is just insulting, to everyone involved.

 

[JoeCool16]

Which countries are going to play in the World cup if the KHL decides they don't want to take part? Is it going to be USA, Canada and a crippled Sweden (we've got some european based players fighting for roster spots)? The other countries teams based off of amateurs? The way I see this, the NHL can not do this tournament without the support of IIHF/KHL.

Isn't that the gameplan already? That it'll be all NHL/AHL rosters with 6 teams and a mishmash of the rest? I'm not saying that's ideal, in fact, it's terrible, but it doesn't change the fact that NHL players aren't going to walk to go play in 2018.

 

[Canuckistani]

At least one dufus, writting for The Hockey News thinks its a good idea:

For one thing, a team featuring players from smaller hockey countries would guarantee all of the NHL’s top talents get to play in a marquee tournament.

But would any of them give a damn about playing for the Euro Leftovers?

And let’s say they follow through with the notion of making a team out of the best young players – can you imagine the stories and interest that would arise if it were able to upset the rest of the field and win it all? It would be phenomenal for the game.

No it wouldn't, because who would have won? Who are the players playing for?

The last time the World Cup was held in 2004, eight teams played – the Big Six mentioned above, as well as Slovakia and Germany. Neither the Germans nor the Slovaks won any of their three group round games and were outscored by a combined total of 28-8. Would watching those nations get shellacked again be a better idea than a team of more skilled players would be in the revamped format? You know the answer as well as I do.

Yes, because at least it's a national team being shellacked and not a bunch of uninterested players cobbled together as part of some drug-induced plan from Bettman.

And let’s never lose sight of the fact the World Cup doesn’t have a hallowed tradition that requires preserving at all costs; there have only been two, and they existed as an entertainment entity to line the coffers of NHL team owners and players. There aren’t any sacred cows here.

The World/Canada Cup goes back to 1976 and for decades was the only best-on-best event. It gave us Sittler's goal in 76, the Soviet thrashing of Canada in 81, Mike Bossy's OT goal in 84, the greatest hockey ever played in the Canada-USSR final in 87, Canada's unbeaten run in 91, USA's dramatic win in 96, and Lecavalier's heroics in 2004.

Plus there's the legacy of international hockey itself, which doesn't deserve to be degraded by some pathetic scheme of non-national teams in a national team competition.

 

[Yakushev72]

Which countries are going to play in the World cup if the KHL decides they don't want to take part? Is it going to be USA, Canada and a crippled Sweden (we've got some european based players fighting for roster spots)? The other countries teams based off of amateurs? The way I see this, the NHL can not do this tournament without the support of IIHF/KHL.

Good question! I will not believe that the KHL will participate in an NHL-sponsored World Cup until they make an actual commitment to do it. I believe that that is what Tretiak is alluding to when he talks about a "team of young players." He would not be referring to a real national team in that context. Tretiak is realistic about the fact that the Federation has no power to influence the KHL big boys in participating in a venture that benefits the NHL but does nothing for the KHL. It just doesn't make any sense! So he may try to negotiate for participation of some kind of Russian youth team not affiliated with the KHL. That would be one way to have a team with the name "Russia" on their jersey.

 

[Jussi]

Good question! I will not believe that the KHL will participate in an NHL-sponsored World Cup until they make an actual commitment to do it. I believe that that is what Tretiak is alluding to when he talks about a "team of young players." He would not be referring to a real national team in that context. Tretiak is realistic about the fact that the Federation has no power to influence the KHL big boys in participating in a venture that benefits the NHL but does nothing for the KHL. It just doesn't make any sense! So he may try to negotiate for participation of some kind of Russian youth team not affiliated with the KHL. That would be one way to have a team with the name "Russia" on their jersey.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=92705167&postcount=123

 

[ForumNamePending]

Except it wasn't my point completely. Players won't go against federations will, because it isn't worth the trouble. But NHL could always try to sell tournament with teams named Europe 1,2,3,4. Only problem that I don't see here much enthusiasm about such possibility even from NA posters.

Ya... The entire thing is shaping up to be an unattractive mess. I was skeptical to begin with but if these reports prove to be true than the WCup is worse than even I could have seriously imagined.

Who cares about NHL? Your points was that it could be a threat for IIHF. But it wouldn't.

I think the IIHF and national feds like having access to NHL players and would rather not see that go away.

In a follow up, this is only talk as of now, and we should all just reserve judgement. Like i said last night though-this is the dumbest idea i have ever come across in all of my years following hockey since i was a little kid. Slovakia and the Swiss should be the 7th and 8th teams. They play teams hard and are no pushovers as the last decade has shown.

Or better still... Have a World Cup that actually gives the (hockey) world a chance to be a part of it and hold qualifiers. Tbh I never realistically thought the NHL would consider it but I think it would have gone a long way in building credibility with a lot of people.

 

[morukara]

NHL doesn't care about the sport. It cares about money. That's why it wants to have an all-stars like tournament where all the best NHL players are representing NHL. So it's a showcase tournament.

It makes me wonder why some have criticized IOC in this discussion because of some corruption cases in the past. Yeah, there might be some corruption there, but at least they can arrange a real ice hockey tournament.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

NHL doesn't care about the sport. It cares about money. That's why it wants to have an all-stars like tournament where all the best NHL players are representing NHL. So it's a showcase tournament.

It makes me wonder why some have criticized IOC in this discussion because of some corruption cases in the past. Yeah, there might be some corruption there, but at least they can arrange a real ice hockey tournament.

The IOC and Fifa might be corrupt, but the NHL makes them look like saints with their stupidity. It might be run by most unintellectual people when it comes to the actual sport who have no clue what fans and players want.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Or better still... Have a World Cup that actually gives the (hockey) world a chance to be a part of it and hold qualifiers. Tbh I never realistically thought the NHL would consider it but I think it would have gone a long way in building credibility with a lot of people.

OK, so create CONACAF? Have Canada play Mexico in a qualifier? US play Honduras?

 

[Beerfish]

I just have to know what absolute doofus came up with the idea to fill that new tourney with the last two teams. Having a N/A retread team is about as stupid as you could ever be.

 

[xxxx]

Well let's put it this way, there's plenty of superstars that would leave for the olympics regardless of what the NHL say.

Hah, not.

When you make a deal, you make a deal. Either the NHL goes to the olympics, or not.
The NHL players have been there 5 times in a row, so the NHL (as the NHLPA) have been definitely successful in negotiations with IOC and IIHF, and with each other, which means, they could be successful again.

 

[xxxx]

Stupid idea for sure. And NHL will make this happen, if they want. With/out IIHF and nat feds.

Still think nat feds owns everyrights to any impression of nat team. so europe1 etc works only.

First of all, I doubt this is really what NHL considers. It's just another baseless speculation IMO. They could write an article that the NHL considers having Canada, US, and Europe all star team in the Wc. Just three-team tournament only, with best-of-seven series, and people here would believe it.

Second of all, the NHLPA must agree on it. And there is close to zero probability that would happen.

Really, take it easy. This is not going to happen.

 

[xxxx]

It doesn't, provided the organizers aren't smoking crack or being petty A-holes out to stick it to the IIHF/IOC, as is obviouly the case here.

Previous World Cups, especially 1996, were well-organized, exciting, were open to all leagues, and had games played in six countries. So the NHL has the proven ability to do this right.

To be honest, I don't see why playing games in all 8 countries - for example - has to be a necessity. You play the olympics at one city only too. It's the coverage, the media attention, imo, what can make it a little bit bigger in Europe. We will see after the '16 WC in Toronto. I think they could make it manageable for euro fans if some of the games started at 4 pm ET, which is something like 9/10 pm in countries like Sweden/Finland/Switzerland/Czech rep. I think, which is IMO a lot better than Sochi olympics for example, where the games started too much early.

 

[Jakk123]

I don´t even think that 8 teams is enough. I would love 10 teams. There were 12 teams in Vancouver and the tourney was absolutely fantastic.

 

[Gaps]

Head of Finnish Hockey Federation Kummola says the All-Star teams will most likely happen (he has been involved in the talks so unless he's misunderstood, this is indeed a real thing): http://www.mtv.fi/sport/jaakiekko/l...todennakoinen-kumoaa-villeimman-huhun/4539152

– The plans for the World Cup are progressing and almost all details have been agreed on. There are a few things that haven't been decided yet, [such as] the 7th & 8th teams.

– The number 1 option is still to form a "European Selects" team, a team made of players from the countries that aren't participating in the tournament. Players from Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Slovakia would be in, and Anze Kopitar from Slovenia and Thomas Vanek from Austria. It would be a good team.

– Then the last team would be a mix of American and Canadian players. It would be a challenger team consisting of players who didn't make their respective national teams.

Where's the world's largest facepalm emoticon when you need it? How in the world did they manage to get IIHF on board with this ridiculousness?

As a European hockey fan and a fan of good international hockey, I feel enraged and insulted by this. The IIHF should withdraw from this charade immediately and tell Gary where he can shove his so-called World Cup, especially if the NHL is withdrawing from the Olympics only to replace it with this POS of a tournament.

I don't like Kummola anyway, but the fact that he's apparently allowing the NHL to mock the traditions of national team hockey and destroy the very things people here care about (and he knows that) in it blows my mind. I didn't think he was that bad, but sadly I was mistaken.

 

[xxxx]

I dont believe it.

The only thing you need to know here:

– The plans for the World Cup are progressing and almost all details have been agreed on. There are a few things that haven't been decided yet, [such as] the 7th & 8th teams.

 

[Urbanskog]

There's no way that for example Kopitar would ever don any other "national" jersey than that of Slovenia's.

 

[ZagrebCityBoy*]

There's no way that for example Kopitar would ever don any other "national" jersey than that of Slovenia's.

And why he would even risk some injury by playing for some artifical "national team" of the "rest of the europe"...

 

[ForumNamePending]

OK, so create CONACAF? Have Canada play Mexico in a qualifier? US play Honduras?

No, of course not.

 

[crazyforhockey]

All it would take is the top player(maybe 2) from each team saying im going to the olympics.....and what are teams going to so indefinitely suspend crosby toews stamkos ovie etc

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Chinese are preparing for the 2022 Olympics.

http://www2.tsn.ca/bardown/Story.as...ng+hockey+brawl+needs+to+be+watched&id=470417

What tournament is this from, anyone know?

 

[Canuckistani]

There's no way that for example Kopitar would ever don any other "national" jersey than that of Slovenia's.

Or think of the Canadian and US kids making up the "North American junior rejects" squad.

Suppose some Canadian junior hopeful eliminates Canada in OT! Does he celebrate with his mickey mouse team? Cry? Hide?

 

[roto]

Or think of the Canadian and US kids making up the "North American junior rejects" squad.

Suppose some Canadian junior hopeful eliminates Canada in OT! Does he celebrate with his mickey mouse team? Cry? Hide?

Question is that do the top players even want to participate this kind of tournament just before NHL season starts. There's always risk of injuries, and it might not be motivating to play seriously in a tournament similar to NHL all-stars game.

It's also a bit weird if owners really want this: risk the players for nothing. Well maybe they're compensated well enough...