I didn't read the whole thread, but what is so wrong with the tourney that people won't be watching?
It's going to be a tourney full of some of the best players in the world playing each other. How is that a bad thing for entertainment value or for the sport?
I don't understand why it's so evil and everyone should boycott.
This is what's wrong with it...
From the NHL’s marketing guy who conceived of this travesty.
"This format isn’t locked in for future competitions, just this one because of the time constraints".
A lie. There were no time constraints.
"It’s not like we’re trying to establish that the World Cup becomes this amalgamation of countries and everything else,” Collins said. “We’re just trying to stage the best possible hockey tournament we can, set that up and then transition
to this more natural World Cup brand.”
and this is his/NHL's idea of what a future gimmicky tournament is going to look like....
According to Collins, "In 2020, the idea is to have a qualifying tournament featuring some of the other traditional hockey-playing countries along with others, like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Ireland.
Eligibility restrictions would be relaxed so that Canadian and American players who don’t make those teams can play for a nation of their ancestry.
Look at the "traditional hockey powers he himself identified. UK., France, Ireland....
And ladies and Gentleman, I give you the Family Tree Cup. This is what it's going to lead to…
I can see one particular website lining up for sponsorship of this doozy of a marketing gong show. It is becoming more ridiculous and amateurish every time these N.Y. City lawyers open their mouths. Luongo can suit up for Italy. Todd Bertuzzi will come out of retirement to join him. Team France will enter a team and boast 3 players who were actually born and raised in France, the rest made of Quebecers not quite good enough. Maybe Scotland would like their own team and can convince Nathan MacKinnon to suit up for them. Oh, and by the way, in 4 years’ time McDavid will still be too young to play for Team Canada... but that's okay, as it won't be Team Canada anyway, it will be referred to as the Colonies or Team British North America. Team USA will be known as the Paul Revere Revolutionaries. The Revolutionaries will play all their prelim games on an outdoor rink near Boston harbor until they have to invade Upper Canada at Fort York in a stirring reenactment of the War of 1812.
The 1 hope remaining is that John Collins, the NHL's marketing guy who conceived of this abomination, has since moved on and is pursuing his profession in other ways.