IIHF WC in July?

[swint]

Would you prefer for this tournament to be played in July? Would provide more of an opportunity to see best-on-best, as it would not coincide with the NHL playoffs. Also, NHL fans may be more inclined to tune in if their team signed new players on July 1st (first-glance opportunities).

Thoughts?

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[Urbanskog]

Do you think that the players don't need a vacation?

 

[D1az]

I wouldn't be against it.

Do you think that the players don't need a vacation?

Do you mean that they would be forced to participate if it was held in July?

 

[Zero Pucks Given]

If you really want all NHL players to be available while not cutting into their vacations, September is a much better choice than July.

 

[Urbanskog]

I wouldn't be against it.



Do you mean that they would be forced to participate if it was held in July?

If no one wants to participate, it doesn't really make for a great tournament.

 

[stonec]

Do you mean that they would be forced to participate if it was held in July?

Nobody is forced to participate, but the interest would go significantly down I reckon. Having the tournament in July would leave zero room for summer holiday for KHL players and it would actually overlap with the KHL training camps, which start in July.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

People in Europe don't really care about hockey in July. It's only the few hockey fans who care but the general public is not really interested at this time of the year.

Also, European players would hardly on the top of their game since theor season is done by end of April. Also NHL players would probably rather spend this time with their families too.

 

[NyQuil]

Ideally the NHL season would start in September but apparently they are worried about baseball fans of all people.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Starting two or three weeks later would work.

 

[Bagge]

hockey in july......no thx. The players need some rest and half of Europe is on the beach.

 

[tony d]

I think the tournament's start time is fine when it is. It's a great tournament and 1 I always look forward to.

 

[peachy89]

Assuming all leagues would adjust their schedule, it would still be a bad idea.

• Summerholidays for fans and players with families, so low interest

• Many stadiums aren't able to have quality ice in summer, many already had problems on a hot may month.

• Many hockeyfans moved on to their favorite summer sport. hockey is a winter sport

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Right idea, but id move the NHL season to early sept instead so it ends late april/early may. Keep this tourney the same and then everyone is available to play if they want to.

 

[Planet Hockey]

Starting two or three weeks later would work.

I was talking to a Maple Leafs + Team Canada blogger who agreed with me that if they just consistently moved the Worlds late enough so that the Stanley Cup Finals began during the IIHF round-robin, it would kill the syndrome of NHL fans trashing national team players as "Out of the NHL playoffs, ha ha."

It's a huge problem because any press release about an NHL star who plays IIHF gets the "standard" 10-15 haters in the Twitter thread going, "Just means your team lost early, neener neener." It creates a general vibe of disinterest. Americans brag on their local superstars doing well at the Worlds, but they're not invested in the Worlds because the Worlds are for nerdy kids and losers.

If anyone eliminated before the Stanley Cup Finals could conveniently go and play in the medal round, it would be a special honor to not be available for a Worlds invite, and a matter of course in all other instances. Not saying a billion more players would go or not come up with wild excuses but the negative stigma of the invitation itself would go away. May 10th this year was a good stepping stone, hopefully 2020 doesn't begin May 2nd or something.

 

[RobRayzor]

Absolutely no.
First of all, it’s a great opportunity for some players to earn new contracts or be seen by other/better leagues.
Second, some NHL clubs would be against players going in July or as some suggest - September, cause noone wants to risk injury right before training camp/season start and probably players would hesitate to participate.
Third, as people above say - for European leagues the season ends in mid march, playoffs around mid April, so waiting til july and not being in best shape would potentially have a higher risk for an injury.
Four, tho not every year, there are other sports events in summer/september , especially since in IIHF worlds most participants are European teams. So there’s Football (Euro cup or Fifa world cup) in June/July, summer olympics in august, and Basketball tournaments in End of August/start of September.
From broadcasters views and ticket selling May is absolutely best month for IIHF worlds. So as others said, i suggest starting NHL season maybe in mid-September

 

[Rocko604]

September would make more sense, but I can't the IIHF changing it just to cater to the NHL, unless the Euro leagues are okay with delaying the start of their respective seasons.

 

[ijuka]

What, hockey in July?

No, you know the actual issue is NHL having playoffs in June. It's the only league that does that. A winter sport's playoffs should be in the spring, not the summer.

 

[IslesNorway]

July? To compete with the football World Cup, Copa America and European Championships? The Olympics even? Nope. Nobody would watch

May coincides with the ending of the European seasons which is why it's held when it is.

 

[Jonsson]

I would rather see an NHL start in beginning of september when most series in europe start...WC in july is just stupid. With a start of NHL in sep would make most nhl players able to play in the worlds I think...

 

[Past Considerations]

It is too late or too early. A total non-starter.

September is also suggested often. I doubt it would solve the issue, because that's right before NHL pre-season. While all players would be in theory available, the teams do not want to them to go and return with injuries, so in fact it might be possible that even less NHL players end up participating. In 2016 we saw players skipping the World Cup for very minor injuries/woes.

Plus pre-season hockey always looks like pre-season hockey.

 

[ForumNamePending]

The tournament is already being held at a time that maximizes the number of NHLers that will want to play and be allowed to play.

You aren't going to get more NHLers by moving this thing to late June/early July. Most players who just finished 100+ game season aren't going to want to go play more hockey. Most players who's season ended sometime in April aren't going to want break up their off season with a months+ long national team commitment. Plus, the IIHF isn't going to move their showcase tournament to a time of year where it would be going head-to-head against a major international soccer tournament every other year. Besides, even in Canada, most people are "hockey'ed out" not any more than 5 seconds after the Stanley Cup is presented and raised.

In theory September could work. I don't think Euro leagues would be the problem as they have shown themselves to be pretty flexible when it comes to accommodating international tournaments. The problem would be the NHL owners. The chances of them allowing a couple hundred of their ( best) players to go play in a IIHF tournament, right before the start of NHL season, is basically nil.

 

[Madifer]

Heres a better idea: WCH should follow NHL's regular season and end before the start of PO. Yes, the NHL would have to sacrifice certain things like extend the PO into late June or so. But so what

Win/win for all

 

[JETZZZ]

-Start NHL season September
(from what I can tell, most other pro leagues are already going in September, and most people here, including myself are counting down the days waiting for the season to start anyways)
-Move All Star Game to preseason, should shorten regular season another 5 days or so
(Its not like NHL All Stars are fighting for a final roster spot during preseason. Also, now that the alternative is no longer a mid season break, there is less incentive to skip it)
-Now that the Stanley cup is awarded in May, the IIHF can begin a week or 2 back so there is no more overlap.
-Although, it probably still wont be best-on-best, as many players will still choose rest, the Worlds will now have 100% of the hockey focus in North America, and perhaps North America will now have incentive to actually bid on hosting this thing once and a while.

 

[JETZZZ]

Heres a better idea: WCH should follow NHL's regular season and end before the start of PO. Yes, the NHL would have to sacrifice certain things like extend the PO into late June or so. But so what

Win/win for all

As much as id like to see that, there is no way the NHL would shut down every single year for the worlds, seeing how much they complained about shutting down for the Olympics every 4th season

 

[Boonk]

Heres a better idea: WCH should follow NHL's regular season and end before the start of PO. Yes, the NHL would have to sacrifice certain things like extend the PO into late June or so. But so what

Win/win for all

Horrible idea.