The Best Idea Right Now Is To Focus on a True World Cup of Hockey in 2028
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Monday in his normal Power Play segment with Steve Kouleas and was asked about potentially scrapping the 2025 International Tournament to focus on the Olympics in 2026 and a World Cup of Hockey in 2026.
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Steve Kouleas: “While we were on the air there was a report so I didn’t really get to thoroughly read it about the World Cup and possibly in February of 2025. Four or six teams. No Russia I guess for sure and something really changes. I’m not interested in a four-team tournament. I’d rather have six, eight or 10 perhaps where are we on that and is it a guarantee? Or can we just scrap the project entirely?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Scrapping it is still a possibility and I don’t think this would be categorized as the quote-unquote World Cup. I think that’s going to be in 2028. So you’re looking at 26 the Winter Olympics in Italy. Two years later World Cup and then you’ve got every two-year kind of intervals of of the same.
The league in the NHLPA would obviously love to pull something off. It’s a joint venture between the two and effectively attributes to HRR. The dollars factor in certainly. And that’s all that’s all well and good but to rush an event of this magnitude if you want to have you know, a substantial audience tied to it in a midseason type of type of event you have to make sure you’re doing it right.
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I don’t think now, I’m talking about February. So is the mindset before it was separate from All-Star and then other other notions were well, it would substitute All-Star Weekend and, you know, expand a little bit more on the schedule so that this is something that all still needs to be kind of figured out and ironed out.
I’m a little bit worried they’re kind of you know, we’re in a position where it’s just doing something for the sake of doing it. I understand international affairs are playing a factor here and I totally get that. It might be in the best interest and in this might be the end result at the end of the day, where all right forget about that, focus on the Olympics and then do it right in 28 and do a proper World Cup that can be sustainable every four years without hesitation.”