The Richard Cup -- A 3 on 3 Hockey Championship Proposal
Ok, it’s the dog days of summer, so I thought I’d throw out an idea that’s been percolating in my head for the last few years and see what people think. A post in another thread got me thinking about it again, so here it is, the Richard Cup 3 on 3 Hockey Championship!
Basically, I propose that the NHL eliminate the All Star Game and the World Cup, and replace them with an annual 3 on 3 championship tournament, with all 32 NHL teams represented.
This double knock out tournament would take place over the first 10 days of the current training camp period and would feature 11 veteran players from each NHL team (9 skaters, 2 goalies). Basically overlapping with rookie camp and a few days of main camp. Because it’s a double knock out tourney, only a few teams would have players miss any of main camp, as most teams will be out in the first 6 days anyway.
I propose double knock out, because all games are either relegation or elimination games, and 32 teams is close to perfect for double knock out. I envision each game being two 10 minute periods, with sudden death overtime if needed. Ice is cleaned between each game, and thoroughly scraped between periods. Time between games should be similar to the time between periods in an NHL game.
There would be four host cities, two in the East and two in the West. Preferably cities close to each other geographically, so something like Vancouver-Seattle in the West and Toronto-Detroit in the East. Each conference would have a primary host and a secondary one, with the final three days of games being in held in just one of the primary host cities.
Each host city would start with the host team, and 7 random teams from their conference. The teams could also be seeded after the host team, but random is kind of fun. The first round matchups would also be random.
Here is how things would play out from there:
Spoiler!
• Day 1 (Saturday) -- All 32 teams play. Each host city has 8 teams that play 4 20 minute games. Fans would buy a ticket that would get them in to all 4 games for the day, which would be played back to back (similar to how the 3 games at the current All Star Game are played). The start times in the 4 cities would be staggered, with games starting at Noon eastern and running until probably about midnight eastern. There would be some overlap in games throughout the day, but never more than 2 games at the same time, so fans will always have some action on TV. Winning teams stay on the A side, losers move to the B side.
• Day 2 (Sunday) -- All 32 teams play. Same start times and overlap as Day 1. A side teams play each other, with losers being relegated to the B Side, and B side teams play elimination games. At the end of day 2, two teams in each host city will be eliminated, having picked up their 2nd loss, and can already go home to regular training camp. Two teams will be undefeated in each host city and remain on the A side. 4 teams will remain on the B side of each host city.
• Day 3 (Monday) – Teams in the Secondary host cities play (12 total teams, 3 games in each city). Fans will now buy a ticket that gets them in to all 3 games in their city for the day (almost exactly like the current All Star Game). Two more teams in each city are eliminated from the B side. Three B side teams and one A side team remain in each secondary host city. Surviving teams in the secondary host cities will travel on Day 4 to the primary host city for their conference.
• Day 4 (Tuesday) – Teams in the primary host cities would play, exactly those on like Day 3 did. One A-side team and three B side teams remain. Only four days in and half the NHL teams’ players will already be heading back to main camp.
• Day 5 (Wednesday) – Play continues in the primary host city of the conference that will not host the finals. The two remaining A side teams from that conference play, and the six remaining B side teams play for a total of 4 games. Again, fans buy one ticket that gets them in to all 4 games. I would propose that the B-side teams again be randomly assigned opponents, but brackets can also work (brackets might be better for gambling/bracket challenges). After day 5, this conference would have 1 A side team and 4 B side teams remaining. These teams would then travel to the other conference’s host city on Day 6.
• Day 6 (Thursay) -- Just like day 5, there is one A side game and three B side games, leaving 1 A side team and 4 surviving B side teams.
• Day 7 (Friday) – All the surviving teams are united in one city. The two remaining A side teams get a day off. The 8 B side teams continue, with another 4 game night. Four B side teams survive and move on.
• Day 8 (Saturday Event 1) – Six teams remain. The four B side teams play and two teams are eliminated. The two remaining A-side teams play, and the A side Champ is crowned and earns a spot in the finals. Four teams move on, the A Side Champ, the A side Runner Up, and two surviving B side teams.
• Day 8 (Saturday Event 2) – I envision two different ticketed events on day 8, an afternoon event starting around noon eastern, and then a second evening event starting around 7 PM eastern. That gives a few hours for the building to be turned over before the 2nd ticketed event happens. The first event would have 3 games, this second one would only have 2, but they would be two of the most premiere events of the tournament. Game one would be the two surviving B side teams playing down to the B side Champ. Then game two would be that B side champ taking on the A side runner up, with the winner making the finals. This is the only day so far where any team plays more than one 20 minute game. One team will play 3 games, but that is only the equivalent of one regular NHL game, albeit with a very shortened bench. The games would be spread over a number of hours though, and since Event 2 only has 2 games, an extended intermission between the two games could happen. Perhaps with a small concert similar to the ones at the outdoor games.
• Day 9 (Sunday) – Day off for the two remaining teams. Conveniently this means only Day 2 has to compete with an NFL Sunday.
• Day 10 (Monday) The finals! Best 2 of 3. Possibly with extended intermissions between games, or maybe full ice resurfacing between periods to give more rest time for players.
Ok, that’s most of proposal in a (large) nutshell. The NHL gets 18 ticketed events to sell and lots of live action airtime for its broadcast partners. There is no need to extend the NHL season (in fact it’s shortened slightly with no All-Star break). For NHL vets, they get to skip the part of training camp where a bunch of rookies are running around trying to make a name for themselves. The early preseason games can probably run as usual in all but the primary host cities, and those usually feature very few of the star vets anyway. Only six teams miss more than a week of camp, and at most I would say the last two teams could miss 12 days (10 for the Richard Cup, a day after to travel and one day of rest) before joining main camp. All revenue would of course go into HRR, raising player salaries even for the players who don’t get to go.
A few more thoughts:
Spoiler!
• I called it the Richard Cup after Maurice and Henri Richard. The brothers combined for 19 Stanley Cups between them! It could of course also the Gretzky Cup, the Lemieux Cup, the Orr Cup or the Sutter Cup or something else.
• I’m sure winning this cup would start as kind of a novelty, but over the years, I could see winning this being a pretty big deal to players and especially to fans of the winning team. With 32 teams fans might NEVER see their team win the Stanley Cup in their lifetimes, so this would give people a second chance to celebrate their team.
• I would limit the rosters to veterans only (ie, no players that are Calder Cup eligible). It should be a reward to the vets, and rookies shouldn’t be pulled from rookie camp where they have a lot to learn.
• Because this overlaps with training camps, only one coach would be allowed for Richard Cup teams. The coach can also be chosen from team alumni or from front office staff. So the Flames could send someone like Craig Conroy to be the coach if they wanted. I assume if teams start to take the tournament more serious, the actual head coach would go, which is probably fine, I’m sure the assistants for most teams can run the early part of preseason by themselves.
• Contract disputes might get resolved before camp more frequently as the Richard Cup gains prestige. Players won’t want to miss their chance at a hockey championship.
• Could there be animosity among team mates who don’t get chosen and those that do? Possibly, but the NHL could use a little more drama in the summer anyway.
• Would mid-tier UFA’s be looking for a guaranteed spot on a team’s Richard Cup roster as part of their demands from prospective new teams?
• It’s possible teams should get to bring 12 players, an 11 man roster and 1 skater for injury replacement needs. Alternatively, teams could play games with an 8 skater or 1 goalie roster if needed, until they can send a replacement player from main camp.
• The most 20 minute games a team could play is 11 (and only one team can play this many. It could only occur with a team going to the B side on Day 6 or earlier, and then eventually making the finals and the finals requiring all 3 games to be decided.)
• The least 20 minute games a team could play is two. The least a team could play and win the Richard Cup is 7.
• I believe this format is more accurately called a modified double knock out, but I think double knock out gets the point across.
• Teams could use special alternate jerseys each year for a fun twist. Fan favorites could become the teams 3rd jerseys in future regular seasons. Might be fun to see your favourite team in some new colors or with other radical changes that you wouldn’t want all the time.
• To speed the game up, I think all penalties should be penalty shots. Majors (including fighting)) are ejections for the players and 2 penalty shots for the other team. These do not offset! Double minor equals double penalty shot!
• I thought up some other more radical stuff for the overtimes, so that they don’t go long (things like goalies don’t get a stick in OT). But this post is already too long for a lot of people to read.
• If the Flames had a team with the current roster, I would go with Monahan, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Lindholm, Backlund, Bennett, Giordano, Brodie and Hanifin. With Talbot and Rittich of course. Pretty obvious choices for the Flames, but I assume some people would swap Hanifin and/or Bennett for others.
I probably forgot some stuff, and I’m sure there are fans of the World Cup and best on best tournaments like that who will hate this, but I think it’s a fun idea.
TLDR; An Annual 3 on 3 hockey championships made up of the best players from all the NHL teams would be fun, and could replace the All Star Game and the weird every so often World Cups. It would overlap with the first part of training camp, so it wouldn’t impact the season length.
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Really well thought out post and the type of tourney I could get excited about. A few considerations:
1. 11 games is too much. Most veterans currently play 2-4 preseason games. They also need to connect with their group and get ready for the season. Maybe change it to single elimination or single elimination after day 1.
2. Injuries may be a consideration for teams.
3. I am not sure you need PS instead of Penalties. I would also say that drastic changes like goalie without a stick is not required. Straight to the shootout. This is a gimmick tournament for purists anyways...so might as well maximize entertainment for those new to the sport.
4. I do think this format would be a good entry point for people new to the sport.
I think people would watch. 3 on 3 has high entertainment value for non purists and it develops the NHLs gambling stream which looks to be getting a lot of attention.
Really well thought out post and the type of tourney I could get excited about. A few considerations:
1. 11 games is too much. Most veterans currently play 2-4 preseason games. They also need to connect with their group and get ready for the season. Maybe change it to single elimination or single elimination after day 1.
2. Injuries may be a consideration for teams.
3. I am not sure you need PS instead of Penalties. I would also say that drastic changes like goalie without a stick is not required. Straight to the shootout. This is a gimmick tournament for purists anyways...so might as well maximize entertainment for those new to the sport.
4. I do think this format would be a good entry point for people new to the sport.
I think people would watch. 3 on 3 has high entertainment value for non purists and it develops the NHLs gambling stream which looks to be getting a lot of attention.
It's only possible for one team to play 11 games (and a game is only the equivalent of 1 period of hockey anyway), and that is even a fairly unlikely scenario). Sixteen teams play 3 games or less, and another 6 teams only play 4 games. Most of the tournament would overlap with rookie camp for the NHL teams, so for the vets this tournament is really just replacing the pickup games most of them play at winsport anyway.
Injuries are possible, but they're also possible at camp or in pick up games the guys play anyway. Injuries in 3 on 3 seem pretty rare in the NHL, so I think the injury threat is low, and these games should generate significant HRR anyway, so both the players union and the NHL would probably be ok with them.
The other rule changes I mentioned are pretty unimportant to the overall idea, and I agree they're probably not needed. Although I do think almost everyone prefers sudden death to a shootout in an elimination game.
Injury risk is miniscule, and could work either pre-season or during season. I'd favour pre-season - early part of training camp for higher level players is mostly about getting game shape cardio and 'touch'...which would be well achieved.
You'd have at least 3 Canada teams - Team West, Team Ontario, Team QC & Maritimes, and maybe 1-2 for US. Could have a round robin in each of these regions...then maybe semis+finals happen at the All Star Break. Could still do the skills comp and maybe a 'sticks in the middle' game for the other All-Stars.
It feels unlikely to get full passion 5v5 for anything outside the Olympics, but I think you would see tremendous skill displayed, and every country could be pretty competitive (still probably requires a version of Team World). 3 Team Canadas = more revenue.
The problem I see with your 32 team idea is that it doesn't have any 'hook' aside from 3 on 3. If more people will tune in for 3 on 3 than 5v5, then the NHL should be moving that direction regardless. The same diehard fans that follow every moment of the pre-season would do the same for this, but I don't see it attracting anyone new.
One of the reasons 3v3 OT is so good is that you see the very best players over the boards pretty much the entire time (unless you're the Oilers and only have 2 good players). Without real stakes playing time will be more evenly spread...I'm not super interested in seeing what Bennett Janko and Hamonic do every 3 minutes.
Canada Cup/World Cup is at least a bit of an established brand...certainly not to Olympic levels, but people will tune in to watch any group with a version of Team Canada on their jerseys. Elite depth and more interesting line combos...McDavid-Tavares-Subban? Sounds fun. Crosby-Mackinnon-Marchand out for a Nova Scotia special shift, because why not? Hall-Eberle-J Schultz...
Whatever version it is, the most important thing is probably a substantial cash prize to the winning team...
I think if you want players/people to take it seriously it would need to have an effect somehow. A new trophy isn't going to do it. Maybe if you made results in the 3-on-3 cup the first tiebreaker for playoff position?
The problem I see with your 32 team idea is that it doesn't have any 'hook' aside from 3 on 3. If more people will tune in for 3 on 3 than 5v5, then the NHL should be moving that direction regardless. The same diehard fans that follow every moment of the pre-season would do the same for this, but I don't see it attracting anyone new.
One of the reasons 3v3 OT is so good is that you see the very best players over the boards pretty much the entire time (unless you're the Oilers and only have 2 good players). Without real stakes playing time will be more evenly spread...I'm not super interested in seeing what Bennett Janko and Hamonic do every 3 minutes.
Canada Cup/World Cup is at least a bit of an established brand...certainly not to Olympic levels, but people will tune in to watch any group with a version of Team Canada on their jerseys. Elite depth and more interesting line combos...McDavid-Tavares-Subban? Sounds fun. Crosby-Mackinnon-Marchand out for a Nova Scotia special shift, because why not? Hall-Eberle-J Schultz...
Whatever version it is, the most important thing is probably a substantial cash prize to the winning team...
It was your post, I just couldn't find which thread it was in when I looked again, or I would have linked to it.
I think you'd see better players than you're suggesting. For the Flames, I think you would see lines like:
Johnny Monahan Gio
Lindholm Tkachuk Brodie
Bennett Backlund Hanifin
No chance you'd get as deep as seeing Hamonic or Jankowski.
I think there could be 'real stakes' as well. As the years go by, I think this championship would gain prestige and with that you would see at least regular season level effort in these games and maybe something close to playoff effort for the last couple games.
It’s cool that you put that much effort into it, but I have to agree that it just doesn’t seem that interesting. Why would this be better than the all-star game or the World Cup? Those at least have some draw outside the usual, because you’re putting together players that don’t usually play together. This is just seems like a pointless preseason tournament between NHL teams. It’s like the playoffs, but with literally everything that makes the playoffs good removed, and some gimmicky rules added.
I think the main question is: what desire does this fill? I know why I’m tuning into the all-star game or the World Cup. Why am I tuning into this outside of it being hockey to watch? As said, you’d get the fans who will watch anyone (people watch the rookie games, so, you know), but how are you getting fans outside of this? How are you actually selling tickets to a meaningless preseason tournament?
Kudos for the effort though. Just can’t imagine it having any draw. Maybe as an additional throw in to the preseason, but it doesn’t come close to replacing even the all-star game, let alone that and the World Cup.
I think if you made 3 on 3 competitive, coaches would figure out how to stifle it and make it trap and wait.
60 second shot clock? Or a 'zone-entry' clock (half as long if you skate the puck out of the offensive zone)?
Only allow 1 coach on the bench. Or better yet, no coaches...it would probably back fire and coaches would do an online physio course so they could be classified as 'trainers'
60 second shot clock? Or a 'zone-entry' clock (half as long if you skate the puck out of the offensive zone)?
Only allow 1 coach on the bench. Or better yet, no coaches...it would probably back fire and coaches would do an online physio course so they could be classified as 'trainers'
Honestly, the thing about 3 on 3 is that it is a gimmick. One that will wear out its welcome in a damn hurry if we overexpose it. The ASG is enough.
Also, calling it the "Richard Cup" is just appealing to something old for the sake of it. There's no association between either Maurice or Henri Richard and 3 on 3. If anything, it should be the John Scott Cup.
Honestly, the thing about 3 on 3 is that it is a gimmick. One that will wear out its welcome in a damn hurry if we overexpose it. The ASG is enough.
Also, calling it the "Richard Cup" is just appealing to something old for the sake of it. There's no association between either Maurice or Henri Richard and 3 on 3. If anything, it should be the John Scott Cup.
Even the ASG 3 on 3 has aged rapidly. The first year it was fast paced and exciting. Last year everyone just plodded around.
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I guess my thought was that by making this an actual championship as time went on the event would gain in prestige and therefore players would take it seriously and that would help prevent the drop in intensity that the current All Star 3 on 3 has seen.
As for the name, that's pretty irrelevant. I'm sure if this actually came to pass it would end up with a corporate sponsor name anyway, like the Rogers Cup or the Scotiabank Cup.
The Richard Cup -- A 3 on 3 Hockey Championship Proposal
