I've said it before in other international hockey threads.
The mechanism already exists for a true best on best tournament. Every 4th year, the NHL starts its season 1 month earlier and skip the ASG. The Stanley Cup gets awarded in early May. The World Championship gets revamped into the World Cup in those quadrennial years. Complete with legitimate qualifying campaigns for smaller nations. The first two or three World Cups should be hosted in Canada/US, then some joint European hosts in future years like FIN/SWE combined, GER or maybe even Russia one day.
People act like this is a hard concept, but it's only hard because the NHL wants to control the tournament and reap 100% of the profits.
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