[News] No 2020 World Cup of Hockey -- joint statements from NHL/NHLPA

[getbak]

[TheScorpion]

That's a little disappointing.

[Fire]

Meh.

[Patek23]

Doesn’t this just mean that we’re going to the Olympics now?

[ST20]

Bettman talks about growing the game in the US yet he's wasting a great opportunity to sell a stacked young and marketable generation of Americans (Matthews, Eichel, Johnny) just to name a few...

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Doesn’t this just mean that we’re going to the Olympics now?

That's how I read that.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Doesn’t this just mean that we’re going to the Olympics now?

Presumably, that's what they mean by the "long term international event calendar".

[Looch City]

Good, I prefer the Olympics anyway.

[getbak]

Unfortunately, this probably means that Tkachuk will never get the joy of playing for Team North America.

[Joborule]

This is never going to amount to anything, because the league just can't commit to a regular interval.

World Cup will always be a joke until that changes. And it takes time to establish legitimately.

Maybe their idea is to do Olympics and World Cup every 4 years, so then there's a big international event every two years, but that seems too frequent for a global hockey tournament. The World Cup will always feel inadequate since it'll be less than two years of seeing the same thing, for higher stakes.

[N26]

It's funny that though I consider the 1987 Canada Cup 3-game final one of the defining moments of my hockey fandom I could care less about this event. I barely watched the World Cup last time. Maybe 4 periods total.

For best on best I want the Olympics. The 2002 and 2010 games are also an important part of my fandom. The World Cup now feels like a players-in-pre-season-form cash grab that makes the season extra long for star players. It doesn't grow the game anywhere that it isn't already established.

The Olympics do. I know the NHL claims that they don't but I am not buying it. The Olympics get noticed. I was living in Spain in 92 and 94 and many people wanted me to explain hockey to them. They were thrilled by the speed and "violence". I lived in Germany but spent much of my work week in Poland, Russia, Czech Republic and Hungary during the '98 Olympics and I was continually asked about curling.

The fledgling northern Spanish hockey league now has double the number of teams and the Spanish play in lower-division IIHF events. The Russians and Czechs put teams in the Curling Worlds with some regularity now. There's a 3-sheet curling rink in Poznan, Poland now and I believe one was being built in Zakopane as part of a future Olympic bid. The Olympics and the international federations grew these sports there, not something like the NHL/NHLPA hosting an event that is mostly aimed at Canadians and the already converted fans of northern Europe and the northern US.

It wouldn't bother me if another World Cup never occurs but if the NHLers aren't at the next Olympics I will not be happy.

[curves2000]

The World Cup in 2016 was just a money grab and a made up tournament primarily featuring NHL players vs NHL players, almost all of which people already knew.

This wasn't the 1972 and 76 Summit Series featuring top Soviet players that Canadian's had ZERO idea about. It was a completely different world and a lot of hockey fans in North America had never heard, never seen or even knew about a different level of hockey. The Soviets at the time played the game in a fashion that in essence was completely foreign to most NHL fans.

In the 80's it was a slightly similar situation but the main difference was a lot of the top tier talent wasn't ALLOWED to come to North America. The NHL was becoming a bigger and bigger business with new clubs in markets like Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Quebec and others.

You had ton's of talent in countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Slovakia etc and they weren't where the NHL wanted them and where the money was.

Fast forward to 2016 and its not the same thing. I am not suggesting the hockey isn't good or the players aren't talented but call it a cash grab and a made up tournament and call it a day. I don't think Auston Mathews playing for the USA and William Nylander playing for Team Sweden in Toronto, in September as some sort of amazing tournament or must see event. Just sell more tickets, merchandise, jerseys and tv ads.

Olympics is always a different animal because of the countries involved, the Gold medal possibility and the fact that almost all athletes want to be at the Olympics.

[dwd5150]

This is all part of a larger dance between the NHL, NHLPA, and the IOC on Beijing 2022.

The players want to go. The owners will only let them go if the league can get a significant cut of the money out of the Olympics from the IOC, something Bettman and the owners have been very clear on for a long time. There would also have to be some IOC shouldering of insurance coverage worked out for all the players who would be on that team in case of injury - both for the players and their NHL teams.

With the World Cup out of the picture for 2020, that could viewed a couple of ways.

The current NHL-NHLPA labour contract is set to expire in 2022 (with an option for both sides to reopen the contract in Sept 2019, in which case the contract would expire at the end of the 2020 season.

Letting the 2020 WC of Hockey go could be a sign that labour negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA are deteriorating. That is, the NHL pulled the 2022 Olympics off the table and the NHLPA pulled the 2020 WC of hockey off as well.

More likely, letting the 2020 WC of hockey go might be a sign that progress is being made on other aspects of labour negotiations. The tone of the two press releases is fairly positive, leaving the door open for a possible 2024 WC of hockey (without saying it outright) as well as NHL/NHLPA participation in the 2022 and perhaps 2026 Olympics.

[PegCityFlamesFan]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who couldn't give two bleeps about the world cup. Olympics or bust.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by dwd5150

This is all part of a larger dance between the NHL, NHLPA, and the IOC on Beijing 2022.

The players want to go. The owners will only let them go if the league can get a significant cut of the money out of the Olympics from the IOC, something Bettman and the owners have been very clear on for a long time. There would also have to be some IOC shouldering of insurance coverage worked out for all the players who would be on that team in case of injury - both for the players and their NHL teams.

With the World Cup out of the picture for 2020, that could viewed a couple of ways.

The current NHL-NHLPA labour contract is set to expire in 2022 (with an option for both sides to reopen the contract in Sept 2019, in which case the contract would expire at the end of the 2020 season.

Letting the 2020 WC of Hockey go could be a sign that labour negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA are deteriorating. That is, the NHL pulled the 2022 Olympics off the table and the NHLPA pulled the 2020 WC of hockey off as well.

More likely, letting the 2020 WC of hockey go might be a sign that progress is being made on other aspects of labour negotiations. The tone of the two press releases is fairly positive, leaving the door open for a possible 2024 WC of hockey (without saying it outright) as well as NHL/NHLPA participation in the 2020 Olympics.

Think you got your olympic years mixed up. NHL would do 2022, and 2026 olympics.

[Incogneto]

I watched more of the non-NHL 2018 olympics than I did of the NHL led 2016 World Cup.

[Tyler]

IMO the 2018 Men's hockey sucked. I was over Rene Bourque dogging it way back in 2009.

I thought Team North America was one of the most exiting hockey I've ever watched and I'm bummed I won't be able to watch that again.

[Weitz]

I think this is the precursor to an extended work stoppage. Think were in for another half year lock out at least.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I think this is the precursor to an extended work stoppage. Think were in for another half year lock out at least.

I think it's a negotiation tactic for Beijing 2022

[CroFlames]

I prefer the World Cup to the Olympics smack dab in the middle of the season.



Plus, the World Cup is played with NHL rules and not silly IIHF rules.