Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlySports
This sounds pretty appealing. The only question is, is the World Cup a tournament or an invitational? If it's a tournament, then you have to set up qualifying and an expanded event. If one day the best player in the NHL is Japanese do you risk him never playing in World Cup? Kind of like Haaland of Norway in soccer. If it's an invitational, you can make up as many fake teams as you want, Europe, Under 23, Northern US, Southern US, Quebec, Ontario, Asia, whatever.
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I’m guessing the NHL would want a hybrid.
Say …top 8 countries (the usual suspects) get a bye to the World Cup Final tournament. Other countries have some kind of extended play-in to determine the final 4 or 8 spots. Something like that.
I’m not a fan of the contrived invitational concepts. Renders the tournament essentially meaningless.