We wouldn't care about the Olympic if the NHL and NHLPA would put together a real World cup of Hockey we actual countries, Canada, USA, Russia, Czech, Finland, Sweden then for the last 2 spot have Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany play a round robin and the top 2 qualifies, then for the World Cup you can have to groups of 4 teams, both 1st place go directly into SF then 2nd vs 3rd winners advance to SF. Its that simple really.
Olympics: NHL participation in the 2022 Olympics
- Thread starter TheGoldenJet
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The olympics needs the NHL more than the other way round. That's why they didn't tell them to pound salt.
JackSlater
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- Apr 27, 2010
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Seemed like people cared about the 1998 Olympic tournament despite coming off the 1996 World Cup and with talk of a 2000 World Cup that, unbeknownst to people at the time, never ended up happening.
WarriorofTime
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- Jul 3, 2010
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The Olympics is definitely the big one. A "World Cup" with NHL players is nice and all, but doesn't compare because it doesn't have the history and authenticity behind it. The USA still celebrates the 1980 Gold Medal with amateurs more than the "best on best" 1996 World Cup.
I prefer six teams. Five games/team followed by semis and the final is a suitable amount of games.
If there are eight teams that would mean seven games which is too many or if the teams are divided into groups there would be three games which would be too few.
If there are eight teams that would mean seven games which is too many or if the teams are divided into groups there would be three games which would be too few.
WarriorofTime
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I think to be a "real tournament" you need 12 games with a real qualification process for the borderline nations and a group stage + knockout. Like you could literally just copy the Olympics if you need to. The qualifiers are the kicker that I don't think the NHL or tournament host wants to bother with and you have to convince these small nations that this "matters" and that they should want to qualify/have a decent showing. I guess if you had to do a 12 team invitational it's ok since hockey has no depth internationally objectively speaking, just takes a bit away from the authenticity.
Past Considerations
Registered User
KHL isn't that much above the other top leagues in Europe that they simply could dictate the terms and it has nowhere near the amount of political power as NHL has versus IIHF or IOC. So they'll just do the same as all other European leagues do in coordination or even under control of the respective national hockey federation.
Considering how one of the USA players from the 1998 team (I think it was Tkachuk, but I'm unsure) was raked over the coals by the media for saying that the Olympics "were a complete waste of time," this is entirely plausible.
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Gary Bettman still unsure if NHL players will compete in 2022 Winter Olympics: 'We have real concerns'
no way there will be nhlers in olympics. corona is in the way
this means we probaly have to wait until 2026 to get a best on best...10 years with no best on best...
only positive thing is that world championship will be more comptetive, more nhlers will want to play in it.
no way there will be nhlers in olympics. corona is in the way
this means we probaly have to wait until 2026 to get a best on best...10 years with no best on best...
only positive thing is that world championship will be more comptetive, more nhlers will want to play in it.
WarriorofTime
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It won't happen in 2026 either... the NHL just wants people to forget all about NHLers playing in the Olympics so it is normalized. Assuming they are able to skate away from 2022, that creates a 12-year gap between 2014 and 2026, they're counting on apathy to have kicked in by then. Maybe they learned their lesson from the last world cup disaster and will try again sans the gimmick teams.
TheGoldenJet
Registered User
Hopefully they can come to some form of an agreement soon. Time is ticking.
Boycott calls getting louder:
Euro MPs to call for Olympic boycott and sanctions on Hong Kong officials
The way things are trending it would be a bad look if the NHL participated now after skipping the last edition.
Euro MPs to call for Olympic boycott and sanctions on Hong Kong officials
The way things are trending it would be a bad look if the NHL participated now after skipping the last edition.
It would actually be 12 years. 2016 wasn't best-on-best. McDavid didn't get to play for Canada for instance.
Wings4Life
Registered User
McDavid likely wouldn't have made Team Canada at the time.
Team USA was missing some high end talent which was on the Team North America squad instead.
- Jul 30, 2016
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If the owners screw the players out of another olympics, the fans should just stop boycott all the games from the during that time. I know it won't happen but a man can dream
JackSlater
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Even Babcock, a pretty conservative and veteran-favouring voice in the Canadian group, wanted McDavid on the team. Extremely likely that he would have been there. Certainly USA, which did officially ask for Eichel at the very least (I remember a report that they wanted Gaudreau and more) had it worse. Unfortunate situation.
He would have made the team. He won the Hart and the Art Ross in 2016-17 and anyone who saw him play in the previous season could see that coming.
Not sure about the World Cup timeline. Either the gap increases by four years (8-12-16 years between tournaments) or it gets multiplied by 1.5 each time (8-12-18). Whichever it is, it'll be a long time between best on best tournaments.
The NHL should stick with the 2016 format. All the best players were there. People actually cared about it instead of the Olympics, which were never a thing until 1998.
WarriorofTime
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McDavid might have made Canada. He was already too good at that point. Even as a young guy, that speed was just too big of a gamechanger.
USA had about 5 guys that would have made the team had they been allowed to pick the 23 and unders. Just kind of based on where they were with players, they skewed young and aren't as deep as Canada so they don't always have a lineup of hall of fame superstars in their prime ready to go for any tournament.
WarriorofTime
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For Russia for sure, for other countries, the Canadian ex-pats are generally better than other countries... it helps of course when you get down to Germany/Switzerland type countries where most of their "A" team doesn't play in the NHL already so they have familiarity through world championships and whatever (so they likely get the biggest comparative boost).
Canada definitely could have won last time and could win this time with Canadian KHL and Swiss League guys. A lot of the best KHL players are Canadians.
The NHL is going to have a full season but depending on the Covid-situation there are bound to be postponements so they really can't afford to have a three week-break in the middle of the winter.
Another issue is that not only the NHL shouldn't go to China but really nobody should go there.
Another issue is that not only the NHL shouldn't go to China but really nobody should go there.
Rabid Ranger
2 is better than one
It's clear the NHL/owners don't really want to go and will have to have a bunch of boxes checked to do so.
JackSlater
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That's the thing. The NHL vaguely agreed to go in 2022 and 2026, but we all know that the ownership side does not want to go and only gave that agreement as part of the CBA negotiations. The covid situation gives the NHL an easy out for 2022 for a variety of reasons.
This is pure speculation but I'd guess that if the 2022 tournament were not in China (or USA/Canada) the NHL would already have pulled out citing uncertainty regarding covid and the Olympics.
JackSlater
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Another thing, from Friedman's column...
31 Thoughts: Where NHL's Olympic participation stands as off-season begins
He talks about the standard stuff, like the owners not wanting to go but going due to their agreement with the players, but he brought up an insurance issue I hadn't seen before. Basically he says that most players are not covered with covid-related insurance, and strangely the NHL and NHLPA are being told that such insurance is no longer being offered. That strikes me as pretty odd.
31 Thoughts: Where NHL's Olympic participation stands as off-season begins
He talks about the standard stuff, like the owners not wanting to go but going due to their agreement with the players, but he brought up an insurance issue I hadn't seen before. Basically he says that most players are not covered with covid-related insurance, and strangely the NHL and NHLPA are being told that such insurance is no longer being offered. That strikes me as pretty odd.
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