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The "Gimmick" Teams Are The Best Part of WCOH

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My idea for the next gimmick is to abolish all the countries all together, go by which league players came from in their development. One each for WHL, OHL and QMJHL, NCAA, KHL, SHL, and FEL. The last team could be for other Europe or other in general. Guys that split time will be assigned to each league they played the most in. Then it's an all gimmick tourney. Really it's a NHL event and they can arrange teams however they want. I get the history behind the tourney with the counties and all but it doesn't have to be a NHL event masquerading as an international tourney. It's can be anything else.
 
tigervixxxen said:
My idea for the next gimmick is to abolish all the countries all together, go by which league players came from in their development. One each for WHL, OHL and QMJHL, NCAA, KHL, SHL, and FEL. The last team could be for other Europe or other in general. Guys that split time will be assigned to each league they played the most in. Then it's an all gimmick tourney. Really it's a NHL event and they can arrange teams however they want. I get the history behind the tourney with the counties and all but it doesn't have to be a NHL event masquerading as an international tourney. It's can be anything else.
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This would essentially be something,

2 teams from NHL (president's trophy winner and stanley cup champion)
2 team from KHL (same here with same combinations)
1 team from FIN/SWE/NOR (playoff series)
1 team from European Champions Hockey League (winner)
1 team from OHL/WHL/QMJHL/NCAA combined (dream team)


NHL would probably destroy, but you'd get to measure how far SEL for example is from NHL teams.
 
tigervixxxen said:
My idea for the next gimmick is to abolish all the countries all together, go by which league players came from in their development. One each for WHL, OHL and QMJHL, NCAA, KHL, SHL, and FEL. The last team could be for other Europe or other in general. Guys that split time will be assigned to each league they played the most in. Then it's an all gimmick tourney. Really it's a NHL event and they can arrange teams however they want. I get the history behind the tourney with the counties and all but it doesn't have to be a NHL event masquerading as an international tourney. It's can be anything else.
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What about people who played in both?
 
tigervixxxen said:
My idea for the next gimmick is to abolish all the countries all together, go by which league players came from in their development. One each for WHL, OHL and QMJHL, NCAA, KHL, SHL, and FEL. The last team could be for other Europe or other in general. Guys that split time will be assigned to each league they played the most in. Then it's an all gimmick tourney. Really it's a NHL event and they can arrange teams however they want. I get the history behind the tourney with the counties and all but it doesn't have to be a NHL event masquerading as an international tourney. It's can be anything else.
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This isn't a bad idea at all. Could be fun.
 
I think the "gimmick" teams were always going to be popular.

Team Europe = Underdogs. Everyone likes an underdog - and they have some likeable players on their roster too.


Team NA = All of the best young players in the game. Who doesn't like seeing McDavid play with Eichel and Matthews and Gaudreau, etc?


It's still about the concept though. In an international tournament the "fun" is about supporting your country against all else...and as a Canadian or American, you can't do that at full blast because you remember that there's also another team with Canadian, and American players. So you lose at least some of the passion you normally would have.

I have less trouble with Team Europe, tbh. Bunch of countries couldn't make it on their own, so group them together. I guess. So if i'm a native of Switzerland for example, i'd cheer Team Europe. I suppose, that's not "as bad". It's more team North America though that splits the allegiance down the middle, and cheapens the whole concept.


It's still extremely fun and entertaining hockey, and i've enjoyed watching the world cup a lot. But there's definitely something lacking compared to the Olympics.
 
Aren't there international tournaments in various sports that have more than one team from a country or region (some Olympic events, for example? And aren't there contests that call themselves "world championship" without really representing the entire world?

It really feels like nitpicking to stage objections based on these issues. The U23 groups are fun to root for, imo. If a country loses in the WC, and their gripe is "yeah we would've won the whole thing if we'd had this 19 year old kid", then how strong were they really?
 
g00n said:
Aren't there international tournaments in various sports that have more than one team from a country or region (some Olympic events, for example? And aren't there contests that call themselves "world championship" without really representing the entire world?

It really feels like nitpicking to stage objections based on these issues. The U23 groups are fun to root for, imo. If a country loses in the WC, and their gripe is "yeah we would've won the whole thing if we'd had this 19 year old kid", then how strong were they really?
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No major team sports allow teams in without a federation. Each individual Olympic sport is governed by that specific sports governing body. But neither FIBA, FIFA, IAB, ICC or world rugby has done something like this. Of course no league usually runs its own tournament. Only MLB has something similar.


There are non national team completions. A host of random tournaments for teams like Sami, Kurdistan Akhazia.
 
Xokkeu said:
No major team sports allow teams in without a federation. Each individual Olympic sport is governed by that specific sports governing body. But neither FIBA, FIFA, IAB, ICC or world rugby has done something like this. Of course no league usually runs its own tournament. Only MLB has something similar.


There are non national team completions. A host of random tournaments for teams like Sami, Kurdistan Akhazia.
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In this case the NHL and NHLPA are akin to the IOC and any other governing bodies combined, right?
 
g00n said:
In this case the NHL and NHLPA are akin to the IOC and any other governing bodies combined, right?
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The IOC just runs the Olympics. But each sport within the Olympics is governed by that sports organizing body. For example in hockey the IIHF runs the Olympic hockey tournament. They make the rules and structure. In basketball fiba runs it and whatever swimming and track organizations would run there's.

The NHL is sort of acting like the iihf in that they've created the World Cup and basically set up all the rules as they want. However the iihf has signed off on the tournament. So it's still a sanctioned tournament.
 
Xokkeu said:
The IOC just runs the Olympics. But each sport within the Olympics is governed by that sports organizing body. For example in hockey the IIHF runs the Olympic hockey tournament. They make the rules and structure. In basketball fiba runs it and whatever swimming and track organizations would run there's.

The NHL is sort of acting like the iihf in that they've created the World Cup and basically set up all the rules as they want. However the iihf has signed off on the tournament. So it's still a sanctioned tournament.
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Yeah I know what the IOC does, I'm saying the NHL and NHLPA are taking up several tiers of management that might be split between other governing bodies for something like the Olympics. They're the IOC and any other bodies, with the IIHF just giving a wink and a nod and not really running anything. Correct?

So then there's no significant difference here between this and, say, bobsledding with USA1 and USA1, for example. Overlapping pools, two teams, one world title and the chance countrymen could face off against each other for the top prize.
 
g00n said:
Yeah I know what the IOC does, I'm saying the NHL and NHLPA are taking up several tiers of management that might be split between other governing bodies for something like the Olympics. They're the IOC and any other bodies, with the IIHF just giving a wink and a nod and not really running anything. Correct?

So then there's no significant difference here between this and, say, bobsledding with USA1 and USA1, for example. Overlapping pools, two teams, one world title and the chance countrymen could face off against each other for the top prize.
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There's no restriction on what the NHL wants to do with this. If they wanted to have a 50 state tournament they could do it. If they wanted to have a provincial Canada tournament they could do it. The IIHF may or may not sign off on it but if the NHL really wanted to do it it could do whatever it wanted
 
BruinDust said:
This tournament so far has been extremely fun to watch. The gimmick teams have added to the excitement. The pace of play has been simply incredible.

That being said, at the same time because of the gimmick teams, I could care less who wins this thing at the end of the day. It's not a true "World Cup". And it won't ever be with the gimmick teams, that's just the way it is.

But that won't prevent me from being entertained along the way.
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That's how I feel about the World Cup in general. Ironically, I must add that with the gimmicks its easier to stomach this tourney. If the aim is just to have fun then I don't necessarily feel the need to bring the sledgehammer on it.
 
gwh said:
Glorified allstar weekend at this point.

Do they give medals in the end? The amount of cringe would be unreal.
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Really? Are you actually watching the games? Most of these guys aren't treating it like an all star game.
 
JackSlater said:
First time I've ever quote ulvvf to agree. It's true though. If nationality isn't important for the tournament, and the format indicates that it isn't, then might as well just go with eight random all star teams. Then some can enjoy their all star exhibition and better players like Hall and Letang can participate too.
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You can't get players to care about allstar games though, that's the issue. The 5-on-5 NHL allstar game is virtually unwatchable. 3-on-3 was a lot of fun, but you're still aware the whole time that it's not a real hockey game.

Whether or not you think is tournament carries any importance, the on-ice product has been excellent. The players clearly care, and for that reason it's a success.

As a fan, it would be hard to swallow this format replacing the Olympics. But as an addition to alternate every two years with the Olympics...well it's way better than watching the rookie tournaments this time of year.
 
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