Will you be OK if fans of the winning country at the 4 Nations refer to their country as the "world champs"?

[Tawnos]

The Canada Cups are acknowledged because they were the only tournaments where teams had access to their entire complement of NHLers.

Once the Olympics came along, the NHLers hosting their own internal tournament lost a lot of its lustre as the major international hockey tournament.

Does 2004 or 2016 resonate anywhere near the Olympics of 1998 onwards? Or with the World Cup of 1996? Or with the Canada Cups of the 80s?

No one brings them up because they were seen as unnecessary with the Olympics taking on the role as the penultimate best-on-best tournament where all teams could qualify and participate (Slovakia having a bid of a rough time of it but eventually they did).

The NHL's interests will never dovetail nicely with the needs of a credible international tournament:

1. True "best on best" means that players in European domestic leagues will also be available.

2. Some of the best teams in the world aren't included (Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus etc.). Teams that have won against the elite in previous best-on-best tourneys.

3. It has to be solely hosted in Europe at some point. Like the World Championships (which induce eye-rolling here in Canada due to their fixation on Europe), the World Cup/Four Nations/What Have You will never have any real international credibility if it is hosted in North America only.

2004 resonated, for sure. 2016 was weird... but I do think a lot of this stems from the long gaps. If there were World Cups in 2000, 2008, and 2012 the tournaments that they did have would definitely have been more impactful.

I agree I would like more involvement... but that's going to be up to the IIHF.

 

[NyQuil]

Team Russia would be old AF, but they would be the only country that would have a remote chance at beating Sweden/ USA/ CAN/FINN. You think any other country could beat them or place higher if there was a larger round robin tournament? I don't see it at all

I mean, Team Europe was in the finals of the silly 2016 tournament. Belarus eliminated Sweden in 2002. Switzerland beat Canada in 2006.

 

[scotian1]

Obviously not, this is not a World Championship competition. Regardless whether Canada wins or not, it is simply a Four Nations Competition.

 

[Lt Dan]

I'll be more that OK, I'll be alright

 

[Elvs]

Everything that has history and culture once had no history and culture. The only way to get it is to start.

But that being said, claiming there's no history is wrong. The NHL has a long history of putting on international invitational competition. This will be the 11th one that they've done over the course of 53 years. The branding has changed over time. It's only the specifics of this one that led them to call it something other than the World Cup. 1972 and 1974 were the Summit Series, which was just Canada and USSR. 1976-1991 were 5 Canada Cups with 6 teams. 1996, 2004, 2016 were World Cups with 8 teams (though 2016 had two non-national teams with Team Europe and Team North America U23).

What makes this feel like less of a tradition (what you called culture) is the long gaps we've seen. 8 years, 12 years, and 9 years are pretty long gaps that hurts having that feel for this tournament. They'll get back to having that with World Cups in 2028 and 2032, as planned.

I've been a die hard NHL fan for 20 years, and in that time there has been only one World Cup, which featured two gimmick teams and hindered USA and especially Canada from using all of their best players. And this time around we only get a tournament consisting of four teams.

I hope in the 2028 and 2032 World Cups, that we will at least see six nations competing, or eight teams divided into two groups.

Don't get me wrong, I will watch and enjoy the tournament, and I appreciate the NHL trying to get more international hockey going. But again, this time around, I feel it's just a warm up for next year.

 

[ManofSteel55]

No, I mean them calling themselves World Champs of different variations.

Oh, well I find that silly too, yes.

 

[Linds]

I mean, Team Europe was in the finals of the silly 2016 tournament. Belarus eliminated Sweden in 2002. Switzerland beat Canada in 2006.

I'm thinking in the context of the Olympic teams. But yes if they had team Europe in the "world cup" I'd agree with you

 

[NyQuil]

I'm thinking in the context of the Olympic teams. But yes if they had team Europe in the "world cup" I'd agree with you

Sure, but the other two games actually happened.

Elite teams have lost to non-elite teams at best-on-best Olympic tournaments.

I assume you mean based on the available NHL players though.