Daly: Hope to have World Cup of Hockey 2020

[kabidjan18]

My point is that World Cup must return to a round-robin format where every team gets to play each other once. Top 4 reaches the SF, just like the Canada Cup.

Nah, you really think the NHL wants their players to play 5 group stage games?

 

[Jahara]

It is only two more games than before and the players managed it during the Canada Cup years. They even manage to play 82 games every regular season before the fun starts.

 

[member 305909]

My impression is that European fans such as Swedes, Finns or the Czechs are more interested and hoping for a best on best tournament than North-American fans. I may be wrong but that is my impression. If North-American fans were truly interested in having the tournament it would be played more regularly than once every 12 years.

 

[Past Considerations]

My impression is that European fans such as Swedes, Finns or the Czechs are more interested and hoping for a best on best tournament than North-American fans. I may be wrong but that is my impression. If North-American fans were truly interested in having the tournament it would be played more regularly than once every 12 years.

There is some truth to this for multiple reasons, but I wouldn't put both Americans and Canadians in the same group (see the different level of interest in IIHF World Juniors) and the fans are not the owners of NHL, so this is not really up to the fans to begin with.

 

[Atas2000]

A good step for the World Cup actually being something people give a damn is actually committing to doing them more then a year or two in advance so people know this is a thing every 4 years. And using national teams/iihf rankings. Make it a true world cup.

It will never be a world cup. The pretentious naming is one of many things that have to change.

 

[Blade Paradigm]

2020 is a Summer Olympics year.

If this tournament is held alongside regular preseason camps, I'd be all for it. That would be extra hockey in September, and it would give national teams a best-on-best tuneup that they would not otherwise have.

 

[Zenos]

The NHL (+partners) has to figure out what it wants from this tournament.

It started out (as the Canada Cup) as a logical evolution of the Summit Series and functioned as a good alternative to the European-centred World Championships. But the game has evolved a lot internationally since then and this tournament needs to evolve with it. Particularly with the demise of the Olympics as hockey's premiere best-on-best showcase.

Does it remain an NHL-centric "invitational" tournament or do they try to rework this as a real "World" Cup? If so, it needs some sort of ranking/qualification, probably rotating host cities/countries (or do away with a main host altogether and go with a system like Euro 2020), and definitely some consistency - hosting this thing every few undefined years, each time with a slightly different format doesn't help build tradition or legitimacy.

While not perfect, the 96 edition was still the best (in terms of format) in my eyes: A European group stage including games over there, knockout-stage games spread across North America, and a best of three final with games in both Philly and Montreal. The 2016 version with the two joker teams and all the games played in Toronto seemed pretty bush-league in comparison.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

It will never be a world cup. The pretentious naming is one of many things that have to change.

That is kind of my point though. They need to actually make it a world cup and not just call it one.

 

[Jahara]

I don't find the name that much of an issue. Or do you want to expand it? I don't see the point in doing so since we have the Olympics already.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I don't find the name that much of an issue. Or do you want to expand it? I don't see the point in doing so since we have the Olympics already.

Do we though? It isn't the name I have the issue with....It's calling it the World Cup and then not using international teams. I would like to see them drastically change the event honestly. But aslong as it is profit driven I don't have a ton of hope.

 

[Jahara]

I think Canada Cup was a better name since World Cup sounds quite generic and might be mistaken with World Cup in other sports.

They are using international teams and tried something new by having Team Europe and NA. I liked the European team and it was much better than Germany.

And I doubt that every other tournament in sports is driven by charity.

 

[kabidjan18]

It is only two more games than before and the players managed it during the Canada Cup years. They even manage to play 82 games every regular season before the fun starts.

They don't still hold the Canada cup do they? You see how much whining takes place even about the 3 game tournament setting from fans who are worried their players will get hurt. The league shares this concern, it's reiterated that repeatedly. We've also seen that actually come to bear even with a 3 game tournament, as various athletes injure themselves and are forced to miss the season's start. They play 82 games because that's part of a thing called the "regular season", how the trivia offered is even tangentially related doesn't follow. They're not going to do a 5 game round robin, you know that, I know that, so whether or not it's theoretically a harmonious format is irrelevant.

 

[jfc64]

Preferably with:

Round Robin eight teams:

Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia, Czechia, Switzerland, Germany and an international U20 team that are halfways biting the worst team in the butt.

 

[Past Considerations]

The NHL (+partners) has to figure out what it wants from this tournament.

It started out (as the Canada Cup) as a logical evolution of the Summit Series and functioned as a good alternative to the European-centred World Championships. But the game has evolved a lot internationally since then and this tournament needs to evolve with it. Particularly with the demise of the Olympics as hockey's premiere best-on-best showcase.

Does it remain an NHL-centric "invitational" tournament or do they try to rework this as a real "World" Cup? If so, it needs some sort of ranking/qualification, probably rotating host cities/countries (or do away with a main host altogether and go with a system like Euro 2020), and definitely some consistency - hosting this thing every few undefined years, each time with a slightly different format doesn't help build tradition or legitimacy.

While not perfect, the 96 edition was still the best (in terms of format) in my eyes: A European group stage including games over there, knockout-stage games spread across North America, and a best of three final with games in both Philly and Montreal. The 2016 version with the two joker teams and all the games played in Toronto seemed pretty bush-league in comparison.

If there was one good change about 2016 edition it was the fact it was held in one city. Maybe could be held in two cities with the other group there, but the 1996+2004 way of having the other group on another continent was absolutely stupid and does not benefit the teams in the other group due to them having to travel across the Atlantic mid-tournament. Don't compare to soccer World Cup or Euro when they have a lot more teams involved, the frequency of matches is longer and the tournament lasts a whole month. IIHF Worlds are held in 1-2 cities and no one has an issue with that.

 

[Jahara]

They don't still hold the Canada cup do they? You see how much whining takes place even about the 3 game tournament setting from fans who are worried their players will get hurt. The league shares this concern, it's reiterated that repeatedly. We've also seen that actually come to bear even with a 3 game tournament, as various athletes injure themselves and are forced to miss the season's start. They play 82 games because that's part of a thing called the "regular season", how the trivia offered is even tangentially related doesn't follow. They're not going to do a 5 game round robin, you know that, I know that, so whether or not it's theoretically a harmonious format is irrelevant.

People probably see World Cup and Canada Cup as the same thing. If the league and the fans has concerns about injuries then why bother playing it? World Cup is much more interesting to follow compared to a half dull regular season.

I don't see why they can't play a 5 game round robin. That is clearly the best format and what we should strive to. That is why that is relevant.

 

[Lartsaman]

Preferably with:

Round Robin eight teams:

Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia, Czechia, Switzerland, Germany and an international U20 team that are halfways biting the worst team in the butt.

You think about leaving Finland out of the tournament? Come on...

 

[Zenos]

If there was one good change about 2016 edition it was the fact it was held in one city. ...

While I liked the earlier tournaments because many cities got the opportunity to witness good hockey and there were actually home crowds for other countries (aside from Canada), I can totally agree with your post in terms of the travel and logistics.

If it's going to be a one-city tourney again, I'd like to see a real bidding process then.

 

[ForumNamePending]

As I've said in dozens of other threads I would like to see hockey's "big" international tournament be something a little more "World Cup'ish" than a closed 6 country (+ gimmicks) tournament held at random intervals.

The '96 tournament was a reasonably ambitious step forward from the old CC days, but any momentum from that tournament that could have been used to continue to build the WC "brand" has long since been squandered.

It's all a moot point anyway because despite what Daly says I doubt the league or PA has any serious intention of holding another tournament in '20.

 

[kabidjan18]

People probably see World Cup and Canada Cup as the same thing. If the league and the fans has concerns about injuries then why bother playing it? World Cup is much more interesting to follow compared to a half dull regular season.

I don't see why they can't play a 5 game round robin. That is clearly the best format and what we should strive to. That is why that is relevant.

Simple. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Everyone knows that.

 

[Rob]

My impression is that European fans such as Swedes, Finns or the Czechs are more interested and hoping for a best on best tournament than North-American fans. I may be wrong but that is my impression. If North-American fans were truly interested in having the tournament it would be played more regularly than once every 12 years.

The majority of fans here wanted NHL players at the Olympics.

 

[Jahara]

A thought, what if they have the round robin portion take place in the preseason (Septemberish), and after that the matchups become set from the seeding of the round robin results. Then the knockout and medal stages dont occur until the "All Star break". so play those games in place of the All Star game in the years of a World Cup. Kind of like the Olympics would take the All Star breaks place.

So teams could play the Round Robin in preseason and Euro leagues wouldnt have to put themselves on hold for an entire tournament time length, and training camps wouldn't be as truncated. Also helps the issue that most guys arent in mid- season form in September. The matchups are set for a few months and can be looked ahead to during the season and can be an in season storyline of which countries are set to face off. Then in January the break can be extended a few more days and fit in a quarter finals, semi finals and final games. By then all the players are in perfect mid-season shape.

I think many would enjoy it more than the current All Star game which isnt exactly must watch television. Hopefully an Olympic agreement is reached and every 2 years the WC and Olympics are alternated. So there would be a traditional All Star game every other year (or something else in its place) I think splitting it up would help its popularity and relevance as something that is set to happen and people will anticipate the matchups. Kind of like UEFA Champions league


September: WC Round Robin
October-Jan: NHL season 1st half
Late Jan: WC knockout/ medal games
Feb-May: NHL second half

This could be an interesting idea since the players level would be raised in the last games. Group stage games could be played in Europe as well while playing the knockout games i North America.

The issues would be that NHL and Mr. Bettman probably don't want the season to be shut down for weeks, even if this probably would be only for one week. Another issue would be to synchronize it with the leagues in Europe. But this sounds much more interesting compared to an All Star game that mostly seem to be something for kids to watch. All star games could be played in odd years when it ain't a any Olympics och WCH.

(Took this quote from another thread)

 

[jonlin]

I hope they will do it. It should be a contest between national teams though. 8 best teams in IIHF ranking at the end of 2019 should be the deciding factor.

Canada
Russia
USA
Finland
Sweden
Czech
Swizerland
Denmark/Slovakia/Norway/Germany/Latvia

If they want to showcase and have thoose U23 teams:

Canada
Russia
USA
Finland
Sweden
Europe
U23 NA
U23 Europe

 

[Ducks76]

2 Models! 1st:
Canada
USA
Sweden
Finland
Russia
Czech Rep
+ Qualification-Round
Switzerland
Slovakia
Denmark
Germany

2nd(Hardcore)
Canada
USA
Sweden
Finland
Russia
Czech Rep
Team NHL(Best of the rest NA-players)
Team World(Best of the rest Europea players) !

 

[86Habs]

At this point I'd be fine if they simply organized an 8-game Canada vs. U.S. Summit Series some time in the fall. Europeans clearly have little interest in the World Cup as its currently constituted (and rightfully so), and its doubtful that North Americans do either. So simplify it. 4 games each in the U.S. and Canada. Let the animosity build over the two and a half weeks. Like in 1972, the team with the most points after 8 games wins the tournament.

 

[NyQuil]

Like it or not but the 2016 World Cup of Hockey featured the very best teams of the major hockey playing countries Russia, USA, Canada, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland iced their best possible rosters. It was very much a best vs best tournament and it will be remembered that way. The only people who won't remember it that way are just bitter and try to downplay it because their country didn't win. If anything it was more of a true representation of the true champion because teams like North America and Europe are easily better teams than anything the Slovakians, Swiss/Germans would have iced. So in terms of quality hockey teams, 2016 WCOH was a premier best vs best event.

Does anyone in their right mind hold the 2018 Olympic final between OAR - Germany as a better representation of who is the best hockey team in the world? give me a break.

I can't disagree with this more.

Switzerland beat both Canada (2002 gold medalists) and the Czech Republic (1998 gold medalists) at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. And that's without any other Europeans required, and it was a best-on-best tournament.

It's insulting to teams like Slovakia, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany to assume that they wouldn't be competitive. They have been.

Meanwhile, a lot of the US strength was in their youth, which was sapped away by the Young Guns team. So they were handicapped. Canada less so, due to our depth, but not having McDavid on Team Canada is absurd.

It will be remembered as a terrible gimmick.

Was I proud that Canada beat Team Europe in the final? Please.