The North American NHL wants to have a tournament of the best against the best before the 2026 Winter Olympics. However, its possible format without the participation of Czechs or Germans does not arouse enthusiasm among hockey players.
September 2016. That was the last time the hockey tournament of the best against the best took place.
It was a World Cup from the NHL workshop, which came with an experiment in the form of the participation of the European team and the North American under-23 team.
The European team, made up of Slovaks, Germans and Swiss, finally made it to the finals against Canada, but did not cause euphoria.
Neither the spectators nor the players themselves had a warm relationship with the artificially created team.
The NHL thus focused on national teams when planning the next years of the traditional tournament.
However, it still did not reach general satisfaction. Several dates (2020, 2021 and 2024) have fallen for various reasons, and the upcoming one is causing embarrassing reactions.
The current plan is for only four countries to compete in February 2025. Canada and the United States will play a doubleheader overseas, Sweden and Finland in Europe.
The winner will then advance to the semi-finals against the loser of the second doubleheader, followed by the finals.
North America will most likely host the knockout stage.
The whole event will last only a week and will not even be called the World Cup.
Due to the Russian war in Ukraine, the team will definitely not participate in the tournament, and this is because the other countries, apparently Sweden and Finland, simply would not compete against it, even if it played under neutral symbols.
However, according to the latest information, the Czechs will probably be absent as well. Due to the absence of an agreement with the international federation IIHF, only NHL players are to participate.
The Czech Republic would therefore have a problem putting together a team, they currently only have four defenders in the famous competition.
The same applies to an even greater extent for Slovaks, Germans or Swiss.
This format, although not confirmed yet, also implies that superstars such as David Pastrňák, Leon Draisaitl and Roman Josi will be absent from the tournament of the best against the best.
“You’re leaving out too many players,” pointed out respected journalist Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
“I think having the Czech Republic at such an event is important. I would also miss other countries like Germany, Slovakia, Denmark, Switzerland… I wouldn’t like to leave anyone out,” he added.
Swiss Josi, German Tim Stützle and Danish Nikolaj Ehlers prefer the widest possible World Cup, which has always been played by eight teams in the past. Logically, it is in their interest. They want to play, ideally for their own country and not in an artificial selection.
However, according to a survey by the online newspaper The Athletic, the majority of hockey players have a similar opinion about the format of the tournament.
Perhaps surprisingly, even the Canadian stars approached are not against it.
“I would like the next World Cup to look like the World Cup. The more countries, the better. How about not all of them are strong,” said one of the best players of today, Nathan MacKinnon, recently.
“It’s more interesting than when you only have four or six teams. You don’t want your opponents to keep repeating themselves,” he continued.
Like the journalist Friedman then pointed out that by cutting the World Cup, the NHL would lose the participation of superstars from smaller hockey countries.
“Look at Germany. Maybe they don’t have as much competition as us in the national team, but players like Draisaitl or Stützle can easily win them a game,” he added.
Canadian running back Devon Toews, MacKinnon’s teammate from Colorado, sees it similarly. “Ideally, every country should get a chance to field their own team. It makes some sense for smaller hockey countries, they can strive to be the best in the world. And a lot of these teams, knowing they’re outsiders, would play that much harder.” the defender remarked.
In the future, the NHL wants to hold the World Cup every four years, always between the Winter Olympics.
Until then, he needs to tweak the format. With the one planned for February 2025, she would probably charm few people.
