[Finger Cookin]

"Can't hack it" doesn't seem quite right. Can't get together a consistent event with the consent and involvment of the main sport organizers and participants seems closer.

Soccer has the World Cup by FIFA, a long established and prestigious event that is on a consistent fixed schedule.
Tennis has the existing annual Grand Slams with the ATP and WTA involved along with the top players in the world.
Baseball has the World Series for NA, presumably nothing for Japan, and no history of international best-on-best save for the WBC that is in its infancy. EDIT: Apparently there was a Baseball World Cup for a number of years that I was unaware of, but I'm not sure how it fit in with MLB. Apparently it was replaced by the WBC after the IOC voted baseball out of the Olympics.

And so on and so on.

For a true World Cup of Hockey to work, you would need something that has the sponsorship and blessing of both the NHL and the IIHF. Possibly the KHL as well. If the NHL and its ownership continues to try and promote and champion its own "World Cup" that it alone organizes and gets revenues (split with the NHLPA) from, it will always be undermined by the World Championships and Olympics.

This is the same reason the World Championships run annually by the IIHF doesn't have more prestige and significance. The IIHF keeps this event scheduled at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs, which will always prevent the best NHL players from participating and relegate them as an afterthought to North American hockey fans.

I don't like the chances of the NHL and IIHF setting aside politics and egos to get a true best-on-best tournament to replace the Olympics together. And we know the chances of the IOC, IIHF and NHL working together to find a suitable Olympic agreement in terms of timing, revenue benefit, and so on working for all three parties.