[Rumour] 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto

[d_phaneuf]

if you need 2 extra teams just call it the Canada Cup and give Canada 3 entries

thats better than Euro all star or young stars

at least Canada West/Canada Ontario/Canada East would have a common bond/bragging rights to play for

[_Q_]

This Euro All-stars and Young guns thing sounds like something straight out of the 90's

[Poolio88]

I agree with the Canada West/Ont/East....so i looked it up and it would be something like this...i kept off the old guys for the most part...

West

Jamie Benn - Ryan Getzlaf - Chris Kunitz
Patrick Sharp - Jonathan Toews - Jaden Schwartz
Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Evander Kane
Taylor Hall - Ryan Johansen - Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic - Scott Hartnell

Shea Weber - Jay Bouwmeester
Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Tyson Barrie - Dan Hamhuis
Johnny Boychuk

Carey Price
Braden Holtby
Cam Ward

Ontario

Corey Perry - Steven Stamkos - Rick Nash
Tyler Seguin - John Tavares - Jeff Carter
Logan Couture - Claude Giroux - James Neal
Justin Williams - Matt Duchene - Wayne Simmonds
Tyler Toffoli - Ryan O'Reilly

Drew Doughty - Mark Giordano
Alex Pietrangelo - Brent Burns
PK Subban - Marc Staal
Cam Fowler

Brian Elliott
Steve Mason
Mike Smith

East

Martin St. Louis - Sidney Crosby - Jason Pominville
Paul Stastny - Patrice Bergeron - Brad Richards
Brad Marchand - Nathan MacKinnon - Alex Tanguay
Mathieu Perreault - Derick Brassard - Antoine Vermette
Jonathan Drouin - Anthony Duclair

Kristopher Letang - Francois Beauchemin
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Jason Demers
Andrew MacDonald - Marco Scandella
Stephane Robidas

Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury
Corey Crawford

East would be a pretty horrible team... otherwise pretty good teams!!

[Monahan23]

the Euro team and young guns team is straight up stupid

[Wastedyouth]

I like it...

[browna]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

As for why 8 teams and not 6... answer is $$$$$. More games = more $

Shocking. More TV rights $, more ads for networks to sell, more overpriced tickets to sell for Hockey Canada/tournament backers, no travel expenses for media, networks, sponsors also equals more $. And Toronto and the media proclaim it the hockey capital of the world.

That said, 4 teams per 2 groups, top 2 advance from each to semi finals. (expect them to squeeze out a bronze medal game too, for further $ gouging purposes) is easier than 2 groups with 3.

Random Euros Team thrown in there as to not alienate the countries (sorry, not alienate the TV rights $ of the Euro countries) not participating.
You have to figure Czech or Slovaks, one of them don't make it into the 6 teams, so most of their players go into Euro Dog's Breakfast Team along with the odd Swiss, German, Dane.

Young guns team, just because. I am sure it was between that and a Leafs alumni team.

Also, I'd fully expect to see some sort jersey advertising, subtle, or not so subtle.

[mikephoen]

They should let the main sponsor run a huge online hockey pool. The top 8 finishers go to a live draft where, with the help of 8 NHL GMs or PoHOs, they each draft a team of NHL players in the traditional 'snake draft' format. Head Coaches are also drafted for each team. Probably don't want to do this live on TV, as it will take hours and be pretty dry, but then edit it down to a two hour special with the regular talking heads giving their opinions on the picks etc.

The 8 regular joes and josephines that drafted the teams get box seats for their teams games and the finals.

Play the tournament as a bracket with best of 3 series in the first two rounds and a best 5 in the last round. Give the players $$$ for each round they win so that they're motivated.

I was kinda joking with this proposal... but I think the big hockey pool to get to be one of the 8 regular people GMs would attract a HUGE number of participants. People would eat that up. Imagine a hockey pool where the main sponsor gets to pimp his wares and send direct advertising to the millions of people who would sign up for this in Canada and world wide... sponsors would be banging down the door for that kind of advertising.

There's probably a bunch of stuff about this that is stupid... but I think it would be a fun event and better than this new world cup format.

[Magnum PEI]

I don't mind the Euro team, but the young guns NA team is stupid, especially if they have first dibs.
The EU team reminds me of the West Indies cricket team.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Euro All Star and Young Guns teams are to ensure every game is a sellout, which probably doesn't happen for Slovakia or Switzerland. I would think their goal is to get TSN to shell out a lot of money for rights, I'm not sure Sportsnet has any money left for it.

[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by Poolio88

I agree with the Canada West/Ont/East....so i looked it up and it would be something like this...i kept off the old guys for the most part...

Pominville, Stastny and Fowler already play for USA. Taylor Hall, Patrick Sharp, possibly others (Franco-Ontarians?) have divided loyalties.


2016 Team EU
Hossa - Kopitar - Gaborik
Tatar - Eller - Zuccarello-Aasen
Vanek - Girgensens - Nielsen
Boedkker - Draisaitl - Grabovski
Hansen - Grabner - Niederreiter
Edit: Ehlers maybe?

Josi - Chara
Sekera - Visnovsky
Streit - Siedenberg
Sbisa - Ehrhoff

Andersen
Halak
Gudlevskis

something like that...

[goodyear]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

Pominville, Stastny and Fowler already play for USA. Taylor Hall, Patrick Sharp, possibly others (Franco-Ontarians?) have divided loyalties.

How about team Francophone?

Bob Hartley can coach?

[Oling_Roachinen]

I wouldn't take the championship that seriously, going to be easy to make excuses why team Canada didn't win because a 23 year old McDavid wasn't on their team or USA and Eichel etc. But if it means more best on best hockey I don't really hate the idea. Seeing the young guys going up against the best the world has to offer, seeing players like Kopitar playing with actual NHL calibre players in an international tournament...I'd tune in.

[Hockey Fan #751]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

That's so lame. Six teams is fine. How can the NHL be so tone-deaf on stuff like this? If the World Cup is just a glorified all-star game it will suck.

Honestly, is there any other sport in the world that has a gimmicky 'young guns' format for international tournaments?

Soccer at the Olympics.

[Hockey Fan #751]

I think going to this type of format, much like soccer with their under-23 Olympic tournament, ensures that the Winter Olympics will remain the true measuring stick moving forward. It's probably a good sign for NHLers at 2018. (Of course, for soccer it ensures the World Cup is the measuring stick)

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751

Soccer at the Olympics.

But a team of under-23 players of all the countries in the tournament isn't put together to play the national teams. That's what's gimmicky about it.

[transplant99]

Morganti and Duhatschek were on with Kerr this afternoon and they echo my thoughts to a tee.

These two teams of euros and youngins are a complete and utter farce. It is truly absurd to have a World Cup and have two entities that arent even countries. What anthems get played? Where does the trophy go if they win? Etc...but even more seriously, how do they expect a bunch of guys from a bunch of different nations to come together for a common cause, when they have nothing in common other than being hockey players? It is assinine.

Why they cant go with 6 teams this time and in the years between this one and the next one have a play-in tourney that would see Switzerland or Germany or Slovenia or whoever WIN spots to get in to make it 8...again borders on insanity.

I doubt I would even invest my time in something so stupid and is nothing more than a gimmick at best and more likely looks like a caricature of something pretty good.

The NHL and the PA are completely missing the target if they go ahead with this.

[Joborule]

You would just hope that the reception will be negative enough that it'll convince the NHL to change it around and get two actual countries like the way it should be. If they want the tournament to be just NHL players only, which is why they want this gimmicky idea, it's silly, and actually diminishes the product. I can't take it seriously the way it is now; which means I won't put much effort to watch the games.

Do the right thing, and make it a World Hockey Championship - eight team duplicate. The play-in tourney for the two extra spots is the right move.

[powderjunkie]

The competitive balance of international hockey is an awful lot like rugby...there's about 4-5 real contenders, a couple more teams that are in with a shot (Scotland, France are like Czech and Finland), and then there is a fairly significant drop off to the rest. A few teams might be able to steal a victory now and then like Switzerland did to us (ie. Samoa Argentina) but for the most part it's just filler. Yet they still manage to put together a 20 team World Cup.

The key difference is the sport is more Euro structured and lends itself to additional tournaments much better than NA pro sports. I don't see why you can't have an A tourney and a B tourney (with promotions and relegations for the next tournament). It would be a nice way to get games into smaller markets (CHL and AHL type cities).

B tournament would look like:

Latvia
Norway
Belarus
France
Germany
Slovenia
Denmark
Austria

Certainly not a lot of star power, but it would be pretty damn competitive and probably result in a lot of good games. Since Europe has World Championships every year I would think this would a nice thing to drop into smaller Canadian markets. Also, with a super long term approach, why not hold this in some none traditional markets (ie. Asia). This would not be the money maker that NHL/NHLPA want, but would be a way to expose the game. A France vs. Germany game might well perk the interest of new fans who may only tune into world events like a soccer world cup.

[Eric Vail]

I was really hoping Calgary Puck would put together a prospective 23 and under team for 2016. Who would be on this team?

I believe we are going from the 2011 draft and beyond as
2016 - 18 years
2015 - 19 McDavid C, Eichel C
2014 - 20 Ekblad D, Reinhart C, Bennett C
2013 - 21 MacKinnon C, Drouin LW, Jones D, Monahan C,
2012 - 22 Murray D, Galchenyuk C, Trouba D, Rielly D, Pearson LW,
2011 - 23 Nugent-Hopkins C, Coutuier C, Hamilton D, Huberdeau LW, Strome C, Saad LW, Gaudreau C, Gibson G

I'm sure I'm missing guys to merit consideration, and likely some of these will get called down.

What % of the team will be Canadian?

[Red Menace]

In guessing at some rosters the Flames could be rather well represented at the WC..

Canada - Giordano and Brodie both should have decent shots to make the team
Sweden - Backlund has a decent chance
Czechs - Hudler should make it unless the same Coach is still there, (Even Smid could make a very weak Czech blueline)
Finland - Granlund has a shot, team isn't that deep
Euros - Hiller + Sven both could make the team (granted, Sven has some work do)
NA U23 - Gaudreau and Monahan would seem like locks, would think Bennet has a chance.