Before Game 1 of the Four Nations Faceoff, the NHL and NHLPA announced that they would participate in the upcoming Olympics and bring back the World Cup of Hockey.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh, and PA Assistant Executive Director Ron Hainsey made the announcement. There was always a belief that there would be a World Cup of Hockey again, but thanks to the Four Nations Faceoff, it is now a reality.
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“We are moving forward with the World Cup two years after the Olympics in 2028,” Bettman said. ‘We will be asking for bids on hosting games. We will have a package that’s just about done, and that will be available over the next few weeks. And we couldn’t be more excited about making it a reality. Olympics, World Cups. Olympics World Cups on a regular schedule of the best hockey players in the world representing their countries. We know the full-blown World Cup, of which this is simply a sampler, is going to be sensational.”
There has not been a true World Cup of Hockey since 2004 before the NHL shut down its season for a whole year because of the 04-05 lockout. The last time the NHLers played in the Olympics was in 2014. While the 2016 World Cup of Hockey was best on best, it was not a traditional World Cup of Hockey. It wasn’t the best hockey nations playing.
To accommodate the best players, there was Team North America, featuring players under 23, and Team Europe, featuring players from Slovenia, Slovakia, and other European Nations.
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That will not happen this time. Bettman and Walsh announced that eight hockey nations would participate. However, this will still be an NHL and NHLPA-run event. The IIHF will not be involved in any way. While the NHL may need their help fielding teams for other nations since not every nation can have NHLers, the NHL-NHLPA is running it for the most part.
The NHL will have to overcome those hurdles and questions, but that is why they have a long runaway.
“All these questions are great questions, and it’s exactly why we need the time that we have to put together a first class, credible World Cup,” Bettman said. “And so fo the brief amount of time we had, I think this tournament indicates how committed we are and how excited we and the players are about moving forward with international best on best.”
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The biggest question will be Russia. We know they are banned from all IIHF events for next year. That may include the Olympics which the IOC will vote on. So the NHL and NHLPA will continue to monitor the events involving Russia, but they know the decision is out of their hands.
“The Russian players want to get back at the best of best competition. They want to represent the country and want to play in this tournament. They want to be part of Four Nations. They want to be part of the Olympics and certainly want to play in a World Cup tournament,” Walsh said. “We’d love to, I’d love to see our Russian players playing in the tournament. Again. They’re incredible hockey players. The issues are political, and it’s not political as far as the NHL and NHLPA. It’s the world politics that we have to get through. So it’s bigger than hockey. So again, we have to see how that plays out.”
As much as Russian players want to participate, it will be interesting to see how, even with the 2028 World Cup of Hockey being an NHL event only if they let Russia participate, that will affect relations with the Hockey Federations around the world.
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In addition, Walsh and Bettman said they were sending the NHL Players to the Olympics when pressed on whether the agreement with the IIHF and IOC was signed. Both seemed to be agitated when the question was brought up. As both stated, it is just semantics as they look to put pen to paper on an agreement to send players to the Olympics.
“We’re going to the Olympics. The players were working out the agreement,” Walsh said. “We sat and had great meetings with the IIHF, IOC, NHL, and NHLPA. All of our players will be there playing. I don’t understand where the question comes from, but comes from, but we’re planning on being in this time next year.”
The goal for the NHL is to have a regular International hockey schedule every two years, with the Olympics and World Cup of Hockey as the Four Nations setting the stage for what is to come for many years.
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