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Terrible world cup ideas

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I'm guessing the NHL did not know they'd get this amount of flak for these video game teams, but are still stubborn to back off them.

i just don't understand how u23 team and rest-of-Europe team are such better teams to include over Slovakia/Switzerland? You avoid your tourney being mocked, and get more motivated players. And why even bother with it once since you acknowledge its gone by the next time?
 
Guido Sarducci said:
You are critical of this because it is a cash grab?? What the hell do you think the Olympics are???!!!

And no one in Europe cares about hockey in September????? What are the months that Europeans care?

The tournament will be played in Toronto. Will have 100% NHL players. Game times will be determined by what is best for the American/Canadian markets. The tournament will be a success with or without support from Europeans.
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Well talk for yourself, I'm Canadian and I am not going to watch that crap!!! Leave it to the NHL/NHLPA do come up with something so ridiculous. :shakehead
 
So in future World Cups every Québécois NHLer not good enough for Canda could suit up for Team France? lol
 
Honestly, this will never see the light of day. The 2016 World Cup will happen, but these idiotic ideas will not pass. An under 23 team? A "rest of the best" European all-star team? Good luck. It won't happen. This is just the NHL coming up with an idea, seeing how the public receives it and then backing off once the feedback is 98% negative.

There is one good thing they are proposing though. The final should be a best 2-out-of-3 again. The best hockey has been played that way. 1987, 1996, even 1976. This will build up some more animosity among teams. Canada and USA hated each other by the time the World Cup was done in 1996.

So expect it to be similar again to the old ways the Canada Cup was done. That was a success. Trust me, the NHL always has hair-brained ideas that the public hates and when they realize it will never fly they pull the whole "it wasn't me it was him" type of idea. This will be no different. Expect a wonderful tournament in 2016.
 
Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, can all compete versus the top countries in the world. Just ask Canada if Switzerland is competitive? For me its a slap in the face of those countries not good!!! :shakehead
 
Guido Sarducci said:
I can't believe someone from Sweden is crapping on this. This event will be great because the IOC and their garbage rules and politics will have nothing to do with this.

At least now if your team makes it to the gold medal game, you don't have to worry about losing your top C for having 1.4X the legal amount of cough syrup in his system.

I can't believe that people are so willing to put up with the IOC and all of their crap.

I want this to be a huge success and then the NHL can tell the IOC to go suck an egg.
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I honestly can't understand why you have such an attitude towards the IOC/IIHF. Was I happy that Backstrom was excluded from the Gold Medal Game, absolutely not. But I also have more faith in their motives than I do in the NHL's.

I like the World Cup Idea, although I'm leery of it being run by a single league (i.e. motivated only by its narrow interests). What I do not like, is turning a purported "World Cup" into a gimmicky invitational tournament that has two amalgamated laughingstock teams.

Guido, this composition makes a joke of our sport. I'm never in favor of that.
 
Canuckistani said:
It's clear that Fasel is letting the NHL destroy itself as a credible player on the international scene.

If the World Cup flops (as I pray it will), either due to player revolt or fan revulsion, then the pressure might be on to return to the Olympics.
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After initially being aghast at Fasel's seeming lack of care for this tournament, I'm starting to see this as a brilliant strategic ploy as well. Here's hoping.
 
There is way too much misinformation being spread out about the level of competitiveness of Slovakia and Switzerland at Elite tournaments.

Below is a table of the records of the Top 8 nations in the world rankings based on their performances in "best on best" competition since the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. The tournaments included are: 96 and 04 World Cups, 98 02 06 10 14 Olympics.

Nation W L T GF GA Win Pct.
Canada 34 10 1 156 87 0.767
Sweden 24 9 1 119 72 0.721
Finland 26 13 1 137 85 0.663
United States 23 15 2 143 91 0.6
Russia 22 15 1 130 95 0.592
Switzerland 8 8 3 37 47 0.5
Czech Republic 17 18 1 103 92 0.486
Slovakia 11 19 2 85 108 0.375

Note: World Championships were not included due to lack of availability of many top NHL players still in NHL playoffs at the time of their playing.

As you will see above, the top 8 nations are all "competitive". Are Slovakia and Switzerland long shots to win Gold? Yes. But they are certainly not walk-overs for anyone and will offer additional international presence, plenty of passion and fervour and color to a "World" tournament, and a chance to see two darkhorses pull a potential upset.

And if you happen to doubt the Swiss and Slovak passion for hockey check these out:

Switzerland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzhOzhaKM7Q

Slovakia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a20bBE6hz4&index=78&list=PL1F274509FB15366F
 
Of course no NHL player is going to come out and say this is a stupid idea. They will all toe the company line, but I very much doubt we will see the players play like they do at the Olympics. Will Stamkos fight like a madman to get back from a broken leg to compete in the WC, will Datsyuk more or less play on one leg for the pride of his country at the WC? I think we see at the pre-season games and the ASG what it looks like when players play not to get injured. I suspect the WC will be the same way, players are just coming back from summer, rehab and bulking up in preparation of the season, not in season shape and therefore even more prone to injury. Seeing as NHL players play for the SC they will not risk everything for, what was it 150k USD each? For most of the elite players on the NT, Young Americans and Leftovers that is not a huge amount.

Crosby will probably dutifully talk about how excited he is and how it's a huge honor and then he will be out with a LBI a week before it begins :sarcasm: Toews will do his rahrah thing because that's who is, Zetterberg will be injured so will Datsyuk, Subban will be excited and happy, Kessel will be awkward and yeah, some fans especially in Canada will turn in. The US and Europe won't give a toss.

I am surprised that the NHL that is so hellbent on expanding hockey into non-traditional markets in the US is so tone deaf. I somehow doubt that Obama will tweet if Oshie beats the Russians in a shootout or that crowds of US fans will gather at seven (or four thirty) in the morning to cheer. Even if Olympic hockey doesn't directly translate into gate for the NHL it does build interest and awareness among non-fans. If say, 1 of 1000 casual fans who tune into Olympic hockey turns into a true fan and starts watching/playing then that's a net gain for the sport and for the NHL. Maybe among those beginning by watching the Olympics is the next Arizona Crosby ;)
 
They should have divided Canada to 3 teams and let them compete. Quebec, Ontario and Rest-of-Canada vs. USA, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech.

Quebec vs. Ontario would be nice to watch.
 
I hope Finland boycots this NHL cash-in cup regardless. Canada/World -cup was only relevant before Nagano. I'm not gonna watch it at all, nor will I give it any relevance. In retrospective that goes for 2004 as well. Even if Finns got one goal away from winning.
 
Why does the NHL/NHLPA always do that, take the top 8 nations in the world, two groups of 4, 1st place teams gets a bye into semis, #2 vs #3 plays quarters both winners move on to semis, last place teams in each groups are eliminated. You see NHL its that hard to figure out right????
 
They should try some of these:

the all right-handed team
team of players that grew up as Canucks fans
Team Mumps - players that have had mumps
Team of players born in January
A team of the best players over 30 from Minnesota, Texas and Saskatchewan

There are a million ideas, the NHL has only come up with two. ;)
 
The ones who came up with this farce must know already that they managed to bungle it up. However, like most people in such positions, humility is not exactly a virtue to them.

So rather than admitting they were dead wrong and are set to make amends, they'll push it through and even if it turns out to be a trainwreck, find some parameters they can use to call it a success.
 
chauron said:
They should have divided Canada to 3 teams and let them compete. Quebec, Ontario and Rest-of-Canada vs. USA, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech.

Quebec vs. Ontario would be nice to watch.
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Actually, why didn't they just put in Team Quebec instead of the U23 team.. Would make more sense
 
Merya said:
I hope Finland boycots this NHL cash-in cup regardless. Canada/World -cup was only relevant before Nagano. I'm not gonna watch it at all, nor will I give it any relevance. In retrospective that goes for 2004 as well. Even if Finns got one goal away from winning.
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If not the countries themself, then I hope that the players will not show up.
 
I'm now more pissed at these joke teams than I was when they were just rumors, as these are really the only problem with this. Playing all games in one arena is a good idea and the tournament game format is good with the best of 3 final.

No time for pre-qualification tournament is a lame bollocks excuse for the two joke teams. They could just use IIHF rankings, decide that teams will be picked based on next WC results or something. But they simply want those two joke teams, so.

I have little confidence in that "NHL just checking the reaction and then backing off" theory.
 
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