Who else has very little interest in the Four Nations tournament?

[Albatros]

Not the dunk you think it is. I would be embarrassed if my source of national pride was a bronze medal in some ice hockey tournament.

For a country like Latvia such achievements are almost existential.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I was really looking forward to seeing Johnny Gaudreau finally get a chance to represent the USA in a best on best, so yeah my interest level has dropped a bit. He always seemed to raise his game in international tournaments.

Still, it's better than nothing.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Not the dunk you think it is. I would be embarrassed if my source of national pride was a bronze medal in some ice hockey tournament.

Latvia has less than 2M people. That would be like forming a team from Idaho and watching them take down Canada.

 

[JoVel]

Not the dunk you think it is. I would be embarrassed if my source of national pride was a bronze medal in some ice hockey tournament.

I think it's a much better source of national pride than, for example, bombing civilians in the Middle East.

 

[Reality Czech]

Not the dunk you think it is. I would be embarrassed if my source of national pride was a bronze medal in some ice hockey tournament.

I wasn't trying to "dunk" on you, just stating a fact. Every other hockey country actually cares how their national team does. I say this as an American who's lived in Europe for almost two decades. You can lose the attitude now.

 

[Albatros]

It's not like the players themselves are free to take part either.

 

[brentashton]

Hey, let’s shut the league down so 12 percent of the players in the league can play in a fun tournament.,oh, and let’s limit it to those players born in these 4 countries and if your are from anywhere else, you’re are not eligible.

The consolation prize is those players will halve to spend the 10 days in the middle of winter in some tropical getaway spot.

Will casually be interested/watch, at best, like a San Jose v Buffalo game in mid February.

 

[WayTooCold]

Total waste of time. Like all international team games.

 

[torniojaws]

Another Canada Cup where each team plays 3 games and goes home? Waste of time.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Forgot this is still a thing

What a waste

 

[brentashton]

Could be great! It's best against best and the players will play for their home country. More likely for them to push and try to win. As for Russia, they should have a special draft where each of the four nations get to pick the Russian stars one by one.

That being said, this thread is a good way to identify the people on here who are against fun. The NHL is trying to bring back international competition and we still got people bitching and whining about it before the tourney has even been played.

Uhm, that’s because it’s a seriously flawed tournament right from the start. But you go ahead and enjoy the 3rd rate entertainment you purport it to be.

 

[hangman005]

With all due respect, only American fans believe this.

I'm not American and I believe this.

 

[Derailed75]

4 teams 30 is players per team means that a whole lot of player that are very important to their team are going to get a week of rest and injury rehab. All the Russians will be fresh. The Cane's got a decent amount of Russians so as a Cane's fan I like it.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I would reduce the regular season to 62 games (2 against each team) and use the spare time for national team play, like soccer.
It's ridiculous how little we get to see countries going at it, best on best.

But yeah, in terms of this tournament, it's hard to take it too seriously with only 4 teams. I'll watch it for the high level of play, but the format is boring and I'm not gonna care who wins it all.
Mike Sullivan should not be coaching USA btw. He's washed.

 

[MNRube]

Im excited. A wise man once said “don’t let perfect get in the way of good.”

Some of you guys just whine for the sake of whining. All 4 teams will be absolutely stacked and the amount of talent concentrated in this tournament will make it must watch.

I personally believe you add the Russians, Czechs, Slovaks and then make a 8th team with everyone else. But I’m still excited for the 4 teams we do get to see.

 

[majormajor]

Remember the threads last time about the upcoming World Cup with the young stars team and Team Europe? People were really unexcited for something that they eventually got very into.

I do wish Russian NHLers were allowed to form a team and also wish there was a team Europe so we could see players like Draisaitl and Pastrnak together. But the record suggests we'll enjoy this tournament either way. The fact that it replaces the All Star game means this is an enormous upgrade really.

 

[Mach2]

So, these NHL players from the 4 nations will play 7 games more than the NHL's regular season of 82 games, then play more games in the NHL post-season. I think we will see a fatigue factor during the playoffs.

 

[Visnovsky]

As a finn, I am more than glad to see this happen - even though this tournament might not be seen as big of a thing as world cup or the olympics.

 

[Bradely]

Latvia has less than 2M people. That would be like forming a team from Idaho and watching them take down Canada.

Based on your assessment, same could be said for Finland or Sweden. They are closer to one of North American urban city population.

Canada is also small, and is smaller than California and Florida combined.

That is what it is, American have the world first economy, first military force and one of the world most important population.....in sport, IMO you need to look differently......

Agree though Latvia is not a hockey power house

 

[DieSendungmitderMaus]

I would've preferred the NHL to stage a Canada vs US three game series instead of this masquerading as a legit International tournament. They might have been better off as well- obviously the NHL is most interested in the North American market, so Finland and Sweden are just filler anyway. A CAN-US three gamer would've given them that audience as well and it would be easier to have it feel meaningful because people wouldn't compare it to actual international tournaments. It would've been easier to take it for what it is, rather than what it might've been. Plus, with the four nations there's a chance the final doesn't end up being USA vs Canada, which would be bad for NHL business.

Otoh they'll get more games out of this version and the casual fans (mostly in the US) they're trying to attract probably don't care that the Czechs aren't there. Either way, it's better than the ASG I suppose.

 

[MessierII]

No Russians no Czechs, no Slovakians, Swiss or up and coming countries like Germany. Not super interested.

 

[Channelcat]

With all due respect, only American fans believe this.

Some Canadians too. Most of these tournaments are just a paid vacation for the players.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Based on your assessment, same could be said for Finland or Sweden. They are closer to one of North American urban city population.

Canada is also small, and is smaller than California and Florida combined.

That is what it is, American have the world first economy, first military force and one of the world most important population.....in sport, IMO you need to look differently......

Agree though Latvia is not a hockey power house

That's true, but Finland is still 3x larger than Latvia, with 7x as many registered hockey players.

The count of registered hockey players is probably a better way to look at it.

It's impressive that they are able to be competitive against even watered down teams from the top nations. Only Canada, Finland, and Sweden have a higher proportion of registered players as a percent of their population, and they do so while being much wealthier countries than Latvia.

 

[ZEBROA]

Almost no interest. Fun to se good Swedes play in the same team, but i will not count this as a international tournament at all. One of the things with international tournamnets is that small countries can upset bigger countries (wouldent we know...). And that younger players and european based players can have a international breakthrough.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

I finally took the 3 seconds it takes to google it.. I didn’t realize it’s during the season. I kinda just assumed it was during offseason or something. I absolutely despise when they do crap like this in the middle of the season.

The best thing about this tournament is the fact that players not involved in this get a bit of a break and can probably take off for a few days on a holiday with their family