IIHF WC in July?

[Tobias Kahun]

Heres a better idea: WCH should follow NHL's regular season and end before the start of PO. Yes, the NHL would have to sacrifice certain things like extend the PO into late June or so. But so what

Win/win for all

One of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen.

You think teams are going to allow players to go play in another tourney when the playoffs are about to happen?

 

[Madifer]

One of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen.

You think teams are going to allow players to go play in another tourney when the playoffs are about to happen?

Criticism is welcome.

And yes you are right. But I do remember mentioning that the NHL would have to make some sacrifices.

Also: the idea of playing in September isnt ideal either since everyone is way too rusty in the beginning of the season.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Criticism is welcome.

And yes you are right. But I do remember mentioning that the NHL would have to make some sacrifices.

Also: the idea of playing in September isnt ideal either since everyone is way too rusty in the beginning of the season.

The NHL teams and players wont be willing to sacrifice an injury to one of their players before the playoffs start.

 

[garbageteam]

It's good the way it is. Around May 10th, directly after the second round of POs. I just don't think any other combination that doesn't involve the NHL changing its schedule to accommodate (which it would never do) would have more NHLers in the tournament; July would be far too late, September there would be far too many players that are not allowed to be released by their clubs, fewer than those who would be choosing to participate now.

 

[member 305909]

I guess the NHL regular season--schedule is about as tight as it can get, you can't play it any faster. Also 82 games per team is an absolute necessity to make the whole thing profitable.

 

[GX]

WC could perhaps start a week later or so, so that the first round of Stanley Cup playoffs would be over. However, waiting till July, just so last players from two teams standing are available, does not make any sense. It's the middle of the vacation not only for Europeans, but also 90% of NHL players.

 

[greasysnapper]

If you really want all NHL players to be available while not cutting into their vacations, September is a much better choice than July.

That's what teams want. The potential for their players to get injured that close to the start of the season. At least if they get banged up in May there's still the whole summer to rehab.

 

[VictorLustig]

I don't think we would see more NHL players if the tournament was held between June-September. Either the players would end their seasons way too late or start very early. Can't speak for other countries but in Sweden the interest would take a huge hit if it was held in September for example. Hockey is a winter/spring sport here, only hard-core fans would care about it in the summer/early fall.

I say leave it the way it is.

 

[Finnswiss]

Ice hockey is still a winter sport not a summer sport. Who does want to see in mid summer ice hockey? Furthermore where do you want play ice hockey in july in mid summer, normally it's in most countries too hot at this this season. Or you hold it in the southern hemisphere where is winter when we have summer. But enumerate only one country in the southern hemisphere in which ice hockey is from interest by the population and is willing to organize a whc. Additonally it's too far from Europe.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Would you prefer for this tournament to be played in July? Would provide more of an opportunity to see best-on-best, as it would not coincide with the NHL playoffs. Also, NHL fans may be more inclined to tune in if their team signed new players on July 1st (first-glance opportunities).

Thoughts?

Euro season starts in august

 

[Nexon]

So the conclusion is that there is no better date for WC to be held because of NHL schedule which makes this discussion pointless.

So we (Europeans and a few North American’s) can happily wait for next year WC while the rest can still complain about how it’s all IIHF although it’s their own league that creates a barrier here.

 

[JETZZZ]

So the conclusion is that there is no better date for WC to be held because of NHL schedule which makes this discussion pointless.

So we (Europeans and a few North American’s) can happily wait for next year WC while the rest can still complain about how it’s all IIHF although it’s their own league that creates a barrier here.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Its a shame the NHL has become such an obstacle for best-on-best hockey in any form

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Would you prefer for this tournament to be played in July? Would provide more of an opportunity to see best-on-best, as it would not coincide with the NHL playoffs. Also, NHL fans may be more inclined to tune in if their team signed new players on July 1st (first-glance opportunities).

Thoughts?

Or just start the NHL season in August

 

[Czechboy]

Would you prefer for this tournament to be played in July? Would provide more of an opportunity to see best-on-best, as it would not coincide with the NHL playoffs. Also, NHL fans may be more inclined to tune in if their team signed new players on July 1st (first-glance opportunities).

Thoughts?

NO... but I would love if they could bring back the European Championships and hold them every 2 years and put them on TSN.

As far as best on best... I've only seen one good format. Olympics. That was beautiful and it better be coming back!

I assume we'll see the World Cup again.. I'm hoping the Swiss have done enough now (note: I thought they'd done enough before) so that they don't do the 2 fake teams again! Give me 8 nations... I would vote for Slovakia as the final country. I could see Germany (Drai, Grubauer) getting a look too.

 

[NyQuil]

I assume we'll see the World Cup again.. I'm hoping the Swiss have done enough now (note: I thought they'd done enough before) so that they don't do the 2 fake teams again! Give me 8 nations... I would vote for Slovakia as the final country. I could see Germany (Drai, Grubauer) getting a look too.

It would be very easy to do a hockey World Cup that has some credibility.

1. Pick the top 8 nations by IIHF rankings.
2. Don't have any gimmick teams.
3. Host the next one entirely in Europe. (no half the tournament on one continent, half on the other)
4. Instead of a single elimination final, have a best of 3 final series (as a novelty compared with the WCs).

Then rotate Europe - NA after that.

I'm not sure about IIHF vs. NHL refs, but I suppose they could rotate that along with the ice size as well.

Of course, the NHL and NHLPA will never do this, but it's not rocket science.

Ideally it would take place in September (so that everyone would be available) but I'm sure NHL teams would hate losing star players before the season starts. Having it in June or July isn't really hockey season but I'm sure the NHL owners would prefer it.

 

[BennsGonnaGetYou]

The most stupid idea I've ever heard.

 

[Pasha71]

What if we left World Championship as it is, but replaced the NHL All-Star Game with the World Cup? And I do mean cup, as in elimination-only tournament.

The All-Star Break (now World Cup Break) would last six days (just a little more than now):

Day 1: nothing (maybe a quarterfinal draw)
Day 2: quarterfinals (8 best international teams playing each others)
Day 3: nothing (maybe a semifinal draw)
Day 4: semifinals
Day 5: third-place game and final
Day 6: nothing.

Granted, no round-robin might devalue that makeshift tournament a bit, yet it will still be way more entertaining than the current All-Star Game is, and it will still be the best-on-best format... And yes, some teams will get unlucky... but with World Cup being held every year, it won't be that horrible.

Now, how do we determine 8 best international teams? The first year, we can use the IIHF World Rankings, and then... why not have several Tiers, with promotion/relegation? We can have Tiers A-C, even A-D... why not?

In each Tier, the quarterfinal losers will play in the semifinals, and the semifinal losers will play a relegation-avoiding game on Day 5... the loser of said game will be relegated to the lower Tier.

Likewise, in each Tier but A the winner will be promoted to the higher Tier.

 

[JHB]

What about all the players that stopped playing after the regular NHL season? They will not be in good shape in mid-July. Better have it just before the NHL starts, as a pre-season tournament.

 

[member 305909]

The worlds have been dragged further and further during the years. I remember when Finland first won the final-date was May 7th.

These days the tournament hasn't even started on that date.

 

[Atas2000]

Would you prefer for this tournament to be played in July? Would provide more of an opportunity to see best-on-best, as it would not coincide with the NHL playoffs. Also, NHL fans may be more inclined to tune in if their team signed new players on July 1st (first-glance opportunities).

Thoughts?

So you take the players who play in Europe out of their vacation, completely out of shape with no game practice since March, add NHLers who are not much better off not playing since April and tell them they have to play in a best on best tournament for 2-3 weeks? And oh yeah, you add some SCF players to the mix with broken jaws and ribs who are eager to play another 10 games of hockey

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Would you prefer for this tournament to be played in July? Would provide more of an opportunity to see best-on-best, as it would not coincide with the NHL playoffs. Also, NHL fans may be more inclined to tune in if their team signed new players on July 1st (first-glance opportunities).

Thoughts?

lol um no.

Do the players get any time off or any training time?

 

[Beau Knows]

The tournament is never going to be best on best and it's never going to be big in North America, I think people just need to accept it for what it is.

 

[Jussi]

The worlds have been dragged further and further during the years. I remember when Finland first won the final-date was May 7th.

These days the tournament hasn't even started on that date.

This year's tournament was sort of a aberration as Slovakia requested the later starting date. Next year it starts on May 8th and the following year on the 7th. The later date does tend lead into more KHL players turning down an invite as their off season gets cut even shorter.

Aaaand I just saw that in 2022, when we're hosting it, it starts on the 13th.

 

[LeafFan]

We're nearing the middle of July, almost a month since the SCF ended, and still about 2 months away from the pre-season starting.

Anyone else feel like we should have an off-season tournament? Instead of the WHC happening in May, what about having it in August? For guys who make the SCF, they'd already have had 2 months off, and for guys who last played in April or May, that's a good 3-4 months by then.

No point having WHC competing against NHL itself during the playoffs, so why not have it in summer when there's only baseball to go up against? It's a dead time for sports and gives the fans more hockey to watch.

 

[Deadpool8812]

No. Season is long enough. Players need the off-season to recover and train