NHL - killer of international hockey

[gary69]

Football in europe isn't independent of the football unions.
The English Premiership is subordinate to the FA (England) and the FA is subordinate to UEFA (europe) which is subordinate to FIFA (world).

While in hockey, the NHL isn't under anyones choke as its on its own two feet. It'd be comparable if the NHL was under Hockey Canada/USA and those two would be properly under the IIHF. But in hockey, the IIHF doesn't seem to run anything else than the various world championships..

Premier League is also independent of the English FA, that's how e.g. ManU was able to skip FA cup a few years back. They have a reasonably working realtionship though, regarding international football (insurances etc.), at least for the moment.