2024 World Cup of Hockey in jeopardy of being delayed
The NHL, NHLPA and IIHF jointly announced this August that they were working together on the next edition of the World Cup of Hockey, which they were targeting to be held in February of 2024.
But now it seems that might not be an option and the tournament could be getting delayed due to multiple factors according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun. He mentioned that the all three parties will be meeting during the NHL's Global Series games in Finland late next week.
"Yeah, further discussions between the major stakeholders (of the) NHL, NHLPA, IIHF and some federations the weekend of November 4th and 5th in Tampere, Finland, when Colorado and Columbus are playing NHL games. Time is of the essence here. Let's be honest, there are people involved that thought that if things had been finalized, there was going to be a World Cup announcement this past summer," LeBrun said.
He added, "The idea was to have this tournament in February of '24. You know, Gary Bettman and Bill Daly last week after the Board of Governors meeting when I was there they hinted that, maybe the idea of delaying this tournament is on the table now. And I've talked with other people today, and I think it's something that other stakeholders have also talked about."
He added, "The idea was to have this tournament in February of '24. You know, Gary Bettman and Bill Daly last week after the Board of Governors meeting when I was there they hinted that, maybe the idea of delaying this tournament is on the table now. And I've talked with other people today, and I think it's something that other stakeholders have also talked about."
One issue that will need to be resolved before anything is finalized is Russian participation. As it stands, there are countries that don't want Russia involved in the tournament due to their invasion of Ukraine.
Regardless if it's held in February 2024 or later that year, the tournament will be returning to its roots, with only nations participating, meaning Team Europe and Team North America will no longer exist.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly mentioned in September that they are looking at the possibility of having a qualifying/play-in tournament aspect of the World Cup of Hockey. The tournament is likely to feature eight teams, maybe even ten. One group would play their preliminary games in North America, while the other would play in Europe, with the location of the knock-out round to be determined.
The last time the World Cup of Hockey was held was in 2016 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (Ontario). Canada defeated Team Europe in the best-of-three final series with Brad Marchand scoring the game-winner in Game 2 with 44 seconds left in the third period.
Source: TSN
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