WC: For those who complain about say Italy, Latvia, Team GB, France or Norway in the world Championships?

[varsaku]

Its always the same few teams being relegated and promoted between the top division and second division. I would rather they get a permanent spot in the top division since they are already border line top division quality with the limited number of spots previously there. Now with the expanded list we can see newer countries fight for spots and grow the game there with exposure to the biggest stage.

 

[Elvs]

Its always the same few teams being relegated and promoted between the top division and second division. I would rather they get a permanent spot in the top division since they are already border line top division quality with the limited number of spots previously there. Now with the expanded list we can see newer countries fight for spots and grow the game there with exposure to the biggest stage.

No matter where you draw the cut off, there will always be "the same few teams being relegated and promoted". If it was 20 teams instead of 16, it would always be the likes of Poland and Korea promoted and relegated every year.

Absolutely no reason to make the tournament even worse that it already is.

 

[Urbanskog]

No matter where you draw the cut off, there will always be "the same few teams being relegated and promoted". If it was 20 teams instead of 16, it would always be the likes of Poland and Korea promoted and relegated every year.

Absolutely no reason to make the tournament even worse that it already is.

Sure, it used to be the way that it was essentially the same elevator teams every year (Kazakhstan & Italy and Austria & Slovenia). However, it hasn't been that way since 2015 as we can see from the promoted teams for each year:

2019: Kazakhstan & Belarus
2018: Great Britain & Italy
2017: Austria & South Korea
2016: Slovenia & Italy
2015: Kazakhstan & Hungary

 

[Albatros]

All teams desire to reach the top division and it would be a mistake to make that unrealistic, hurting growth perspectives in a lot of countries. We also used to have tournaments with 6 teams in the past and the competition wasn't really better at the time. The World Championships are perhaps more than anything else a carnival of hockey and they should be as inclusive to the entirety of the hockey world as reasonably possible, you can always discuss whether +2 or -2 teams is better or worse for that balance and how the format should exactly look like, but I don't see any need for radical change.

 

[ES]

Realistically I would say currently best 16 are those 14 who stayed in the top level this year plus Russia and Belarus. With that duo banned I would go for Italy and Slovenia for remaining two spots.