So, Lets Discuss this "World Cup" Nonsense for a Second...

[Rocko604]

Every time the players take to the ice, the Million Dollar Man theme music should be played.

I might watch the occasional game, like if Canada vs USA or Russia, but if football's on, I'm watching that instead.

 

[HarrySPlinkett]

Wonder how much you'll be crying if one of you star players tears his ACL in this tournament.

It happened to Tavares. People are still in favor of the Olympics.

 

[rojac]

Growing the game. Olympics do that a whole lot more then this world cup. More fans = more money in the future.

Is there any actual evidence of the NHL gaining fans from the Olympics? Or is it just another sport that some people enjoy watching every four years and don't pay any attention to between Olympics?

 

[member 151739]

I'm actually excited for the World Cup... to me, it's a pretty big deal.

 

[The Gloaming]

Everyone watches the Olympics because that's where the best athletes are.

Only hardcore hockey fans will watch the World Cup of Hockey. Look how little North Americans care about the World Championships happening right now. That's how little Europeans will care about this tournament. And I think most Americans would fall into the same category.

 

[sandysan]

Fine, I won't use the term money grab. My comment about being a true nation on nation best on best still stands, and taking the best players away from the biggest shop window (the Olympics) costs the tournament millions of extra viewers. Nobody who isn't already a hockey fan will watch, and even many who are won't either, as evidenced by this thread.

Yoy keep missing the point, the nhl HAS participated in the olympics and that has NOT grown the game one iota. Its been repeatedly proven.

Like you the nhl sure as hell would have liked it IF their participation did grow the game, but that ship has sailed, sprung a leak and sunk.

Lets say there is some kid in manilla who, by chance,catches a game and catches the bug. What then? He gets to play it on a ps4?
How does having more people interested in an exhorbinantly expensive sport for which they have ZERO extant infrastructure grow the game.

Having tons of people tune in every four years and not a day inbetween isnt the path to grow the game.

And these new fans, they wont be able to distinguish the talents between junior A players and NHL all stars so what diffetence does I make?

If there were a huge compelling hook that occured at the olympics that could be used as a catalyst to grow the game, the NHL is cintractually preventef from using that footage by their "partners".

In the early rounds last year the big "hook" was likely TJ oshie and the shootout. How many ads did you see along the lines of " you saw what oshie did for Team USA now come see if he can do the same for the washibgton capitals".

The answer is zero. Despite providing the talent FOR FREAKING FREE, the nhl can't use olympic footage to promote the league that gifted that very same talent.

With the NHL calling the shots, THEY now control how the league is promoted.

 

[BruinLVGA]

All of that is just your opinion and ignoring the facts of why the NHL is no longer participating in the Olympics.

The Olympics is a corrupt organization that is bankrupting countries. Look at Rio and how much of a mess it is.

I am proud the NHL is stepping away from the Olympics and I love the idea of the World Cup again. The NHL will control everything, including the officiating!!! It is going to be held in the summer, which is amazing, and it will have the best players in the world competing against each other.

Now I understand you can nitpick at the teams, mainly at Team Europe, but the NHL is doing what it can.

I for one am VERY excited and really looking forward to September!

I am not sure if this post is serious, to be honest.

Do not understand people who are not excited for this tournament. Best on best hockey is unreal. With the two new teams, every game is going to be one you can't wait to watch. Team North America vs Canada is one of the games I'm looking forward to most. Not sure why anyone would want to see Belarus get railed by Canada 10-0 in a game with zero intensity. People trying to take a stand not to watch it to spite the NHL? Don't get it..if you enjoy watching hockey than this tournament is going to be awesome.

I enjoy watching hockey. For that reason, I enjoy watching the Spengler Cup. That doesn't mean that I consider the Spengler Cup a meaningful tournament. The same applies for this World Cup that is an invitational tournament with made up teams. I will probably watch some of this if nothing else is on, but it will be like watching a pre season game: zero meaning whatsoever.

I would definitely prefer to see Canada play Belarus at the Olympics because at least Belarus and Canada are countries that played their best in order to be able to participate in a competition that has a biggest tradition than any other competition in the world (the first Olympics date all the way to ancient Greece).
And I would caution against foregone conclusions in any international hockey game. Remember the Miracle on Ice... Remember recent games like Canada losing 2-0 to Switzerland in Turin 2006 and being barely able to win in Vancouver 2010 against the same opponent, when they required OT to beat Switzerland 3-2.

Athletes compete. Whether it's soccer in the hallways before the game, poker or PS Vita on the plane, or a tournament. Nobody wants to be embarrassed. The eyes of the hockey world will be on this tournament. There will be no declining of invitations a la the WHC. When bullets start flying for real, you will not see passengers.

The NHL is the best league in the world. Sure, there are good players in other leagues. Any more than a handful who'd make a team that wasn't Russia? No. Nobody who doesn't play in the NHL will be on Sweden's blue line.

And no, the results don't indicate anyone can beat anyone. One side can clog up the neutral zone and throw three people in front of every shot and hope they get lucky against Canada. In this format, every team is going to be loaded up with top end skill. And hopefully, the coaches are a little less conservative.

This is a spectacle - the NHL sets its own rules and it has decided not to waste everyone's time with Team Switzerland and Team Belarus. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of roided Latvians standing between Shea Weber and Gudlevskis - once was enough.

The only correct thing you said in your post is "This is a spectacle". If it's a show you want, more power to you. I prefer to watch games that have a meaning.
This World Cup has zero credibility being invitational + with made up teams + organized by a national league instead of by an entity that represents all national leagues in the world.

The World Cup is a glorified Spengler Cup for made up teams. Team North America... Team Europe... What's this, some sort of drawn out all star game? Ridiculous.

Yeah, I won't be watching this and I don't want my team's players involved either.

This is not a true best on best, just a money grab.

Exactly.

unlike the olympics who sell the tv rights that they control for billions.

The NHL is a private league, they are in the business of making money. Why should they " gift" the talent that they have under contract to enrich the IOC ? for the grand return of nothing ?

and if it IS a money grab, it might be the money grab needed to convince the NHL that whatever the IOC does, they don't NEED th IOC to do it.

so if you were in their shoes

Best on best/ players& owners take all the risks/ the ioc gets all the benefits
vs
Best on best ( gimmicks first year, only)/ players& owners take on all the risks / players owners get all the benefits

if you are a player, you chose the former ? really ?

Re bolded... Because every other professional league in the world, who are in the business of making money as well, also gift their talents for a grand return of nothing. And they have been gifting their talent for a grand return of nothing for eons before the NHL started allowing their players to participate in 1998. Furthermore, all these other professional leagues who are in the business of making money, also do gift their talents to the World Championship too!

And because all pro leagues of all pro team sports in the world also do gift their talents for major competitions like the Olympics or for example the World Cup of soccer.

It's a truly big world out there, knowing what goes on in it, would be something I recommend.

 

[sandysan]

I am not sure if this post is serious, to be honest.



I enjoy watching hockey. For that reason, I enjoy watching the Spengler Cup. That doesn't mean that I consider the Spengler Cup a meaningful tournament. The same applies for this World Cup that is an invitational tournament with made up teams. I will probably watch some of this if nothing else is on, but it will be like watching a pre season game: zero meaning whatsoever.

I would definitely prefer to see Canada play Belarus at the Olympics because at least Belarus and Canada are countries that played their best in order to be able to participate in a competition that has a biggest tradition than any other competition in the world (the first Olympics date all the way to ancient Greece).
And I would caution against foregone conclusions in any international hockey game. Remember the Miracle on Ice... Remember recent games like Canada losing 2-0 to Switzerland in Turin 2006 and being barely able to win in Vancouver 2010 against the same opponent, when they required OT to beat Switzerland 3-2.



The only correct thing you said in your post is "This is a spectacle". If it's a show you want, more power to you. I prefer to watch games that have a meaning.
This World Cup has zero credibility being invitational + with made up teams + organized by a national league instead of by an entity that represents all national leagues in the world.

The World Cup is a glorified Spengler Cup for made up teams. Team North America... Team Europe... What's this, some sort of drawn out all star game? Ridiculous.



Exactly.



Re bolded... Because every other professional league in the world, who are in the business of making money as well, also gift their talents for a grand return of nothing. And they have been gifting their talent for a grand return of nothing for eons before the NHL started allowing their players to participate in 1998. Furthermore, all these other professional leagues who are in the business of making money, also do gift their talents to the World Championship too.

And because all pro leagues of all pro team sports in the world also do gift their talents for major competitions like the Olympics or for example the World Cup of soccer.

It's a truly big world out there, knowing what goes on in it, would be something I recommend.

and if every other professional league was in the same boat as the nhl ( which needs way more than a ball, or a ball and a hoop to grow the game) they would also question " what the hell are we doing this for?"

the nhl has the draw (the talent) and unlike all of the other professional leagues they have the stroke, not the feckless IIHF.

Your opinion is that a private league should become altruistic to sate your desire for best on best when they get nothing in return for this participation?

i think that no matter where you travel in this wide wide world, that desire is always accurately described as pathologically entitled.

It was a nice idea, abandon the canard of amateurism and get the best players on the planet to grow the game. They tried, it NEVER worked. And you want them to just keep doubling down and providing world class hockey for free to enrich some corrupt amoral third party? the nhl has has their fill of making other parties rich when THEY exclusively control the draw.

 

[Chimpradamus]

The tournament is very fitting. A mickey mouse organization hosts a mickey mouse tournament and calls it the "replacement" of the olympics, because having a shutdown for two weeks every 4th year - to promote the actual sport and give hockey fans world wide something back - is simply unacceptable. Unless it's in Canada or the United States, maybe.

It is however acceptable to shut down the entire league for a year every 3rd/ 4th year or so because of exploding incompetence. I won't be watching this farce, that's for sure, because I'm a hockey fan, not an NHL *****.

The biggest communist hockey league in the world vacuums the whole world of talent for coffee money with huge threats (called the draft, a.k.a. the cow market) and then rotates in their greedy graves if they ever had to give something back to the sport - ever. Why? Because it's not a sports league - it's a dirty business with bad owners. It's bad enough the NHL has a cow market in all hockey leagues in North America as a breeding farm for their business. It just makes it worse it's world wide now.

I'm glad the KHL exists as some sort of leverage against the ridiculous former monopoly the NHL had, waving wads of cash to form players into indendured servants, paying their former clubs what the NHL office spends on coffee.

 

[sandysan]

The tournament is very fitting. A mickey mouse organization hosts a mickey mouse tournament and calls it the "replacement" of the olympics, because having a shutdown for two weeks every 4th year - to promote the actual sport and give hockey fans world wide something back - is simply unacceptable.

It is however acceptable to shut down the entire league for a year every 3rd/ 4th year or so because of exploding incompetence.

I won't be watching this farce, that's for sure, because I'm a hockey fan, not an NHL *****.

Then dont watch. The nhl doesnt need you to not butter their bread. Enjoy fourth rate talent with the "right" crest. If you stop watching the nhl you might be able to delude yourself into thinking its something more than it really is.

if the nhl can do what the ioc does ( which is what, hire a guy to drive the zamboni?) why shouldn't they do it themselves if the difference means going from 0% revenues to 100%?

The nhl may have many warts, compared to the sham that is the IOC they look comparitively angelic.

 

[HarrySPlinkett]

I am not sure if this post is serious, to be honest.



I enjoy watching hockey. For that reason, I enjoy watching the Spengler Cup. That doesn't mean that I consider the Spengler Cup a meaningful tournament. The same applies for this World Cup that is an invitational tournament with made up teams. I will probably watch some of this if nothing else is on, but it will be like watching a pre season game: zero meaning whatsoever.

I would definitely prefer to see Canada play Belarus at the Olympics because at least Belarus and Canada are countries that played their best in order to be able to participate in a competition that has a biggest tradition than any other competition in the world (the first Olympics date all the way to ancient Greece).
And I would caution against foregone conclusions in any international hockey game. Remember the Miracle on Ice... Remember recent games like Canada losing 2-0 to Switzerland in Turin 2006 and being barely able to win in Vancouver 2010 against the same opponent, when they required OT to beat Switzerland 3-2.

The only correct thing you said in your post is "This is a spectacle". If it's a show you want, more power to you. I prefer to watch games that have a meaning.
This World Cup has zero credibility being invitational + with made up teams + organized by a national league instead of by an entity that represents all national leagues in the world.

The World Cup is a glorified Spengler Cup for made up teams. Team North America... Team Europe... What's this, some sort of drawn out all star game? Ridiculous.



Exactly.



Re bolded... Because every other professional league in the world, who are in the business of making money as well, also gift their talents for a grand return of nothing. And they have been gifting their talent for a grand return of nothing for eons before the NHL started allowing their players to participate in 1998. Furthermore, all these other professional leagues who are in the business of making money, also do gift their talents to the World Championship too.

And because all pro leagues of all pro team sports in the world also do gift their talents for major competitions like the Olympics or for example the World Cup of soccer.

It's a truly big world out there, knowing what goes on in it, would be something I recommend.

The IOC and FIFA are two of the most despicable, corrupt oranizations on earth. Say what you want about Gary, his big black mark seems to be extorting the Glendale City Council. Maybe the NHL should've hosted this event in Lebanon with facilities built by virtually enslaved migrant workers. Would it have more 'meaning' then?

And no, other pro leagues do not all give their players to the Olympics. The NBA does in the summer, baseball does not. Does cricket? Rugby?

Nobody 'gifts talent' to the WHC. Guys who are no longer playing hockey that year sometimes go. Sometimes they don't. Most go once out of national obligation and never return.

The Spengler Cup is awful because a washed up Curtis Joseph can start for Team Canada and win the whole thing.

Team Europe features a bunch of really good players who wouldn't otherwise get to play in an international best on best tournament as anything more than cannon fodder. The preliminary roster features players from Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway and Slovenia. Save for Slovakia, not a single one of those countries deserves to have their own entry. And Slovakia would get destroyed.

Team North America is the most compelling reason to watch the tournament - I understand it sucks from a US perspective because I'm almost positive Eichel, Gaudreau, Larkin and Seth Jones make Team USA. Nobody on Team NA is making Team Canada. I don't care how many people are on McDavid's jock strap, Hockey Canada does not take children with half an NHL season under their belt to this type of event.

Civil War opens today. It's going to make a gajillion dollars. The World Cup is not meant to be The Artist. It's meant to be fun. Yes, the commericals for it suck. That's on Roger's for not knowing how to tell a story.

The 1996 World Cup was great. The 2004 World Cup would've been better if the spectre of the lockout wasn't looming over everyone's head. With news that they won't be going to Korea (why exactly do we want to risk the best players in the world being nuked by that bowl-cut fool?) this is what we get.

Enjoy the show.

 

[JustABlackhawksFan]

Team USA is getting totally screwed because of this whole Team North America thing.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Then dont watch. The nhl doesnt need you to not butter their bread. Enjoy fourth rate talent with the "right" crest. If you stop watching the nhl you might be able to delude yourself into thinking its something more than it really is.

if the nhl can do what the ioc does ( which is what, hire a guy to drive the zamboni?) why shouldn't they do it themselves if the difference means going from 0% revenues to 100%?

The nhl may have many warts, compared to the sham that is the IOC they look comparitively angelic.

Yeah, because it is of exemplary morals the NHL backs out of the olympics. Yeah, sure. Because it has nothing to do with owners not wanting to lose revenue every 4th year for two weeks.

I agree the IOC is corrupt to the bone, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think corruption is widespread everywhere else as well - including the NHL. The only reason the IOC and FIFA got caught was the United States didn't bribe enough themselves and they got pissed. It's not like it was difficult for any country with resources to find dirt on these guys. What do you think would happen if agents would seriously crack down on Wall Street, the medical industry, the weapons industry, etc, the NHL or any big, wealthy organization or conglomerate of organizations today? Major crime by just scratching the surface.

 

[sandysan]

Team USA is getting totally screwed because of this whole Team North America thing.

Yep, but what's the alternative? letting canada have a "B" team. Splitting canada into regions ?

And it's (alledgedly) a one off. Is it great ? No but its something that many (myself included) are willing to accept for near best on best.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

lol @ the people who are saying, "the NHL is a business, of course they want to make money and maximize the value of their stars"

In no way, shape, or form does that provide incentive to watch this garbage.

they represent the next wave of NHL stars who, due to incredible depth, would have ZERO chance of making their respective national teams this year.

Again, no one cares.

We already have the WJC to showcase the next crop of talent...and THAT tournament has national pride on the line.

Do you really think the World Cup will ever, ever have a moment like 2:53 in this video?

The NHL is using this tournament to showcase the fact that it is by leaps and bounds the most talent laden hockey league on the planet, and this way they get to show that in addition to having the top end talent the league is also super deep so much so that teams assembled like young guns and leftover Europe might be good enough to hang, or better, with any team.

Everyone already knows the NHL is the best.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Atleast the teams Are stacked. Watched some of todays games and the teams Are horrible... Maroon on the american team the swedish team has Adam Larsson and Gustav Nyquist and a bunch of non nhl players. Pretty boring to watch

 

[Chloraflora]

Yoy keep missing the point, the nhl HAS participated in the olympics and that has NOT grown the game one iota. Its been repeatedly proven.

Like you the nhl sure as hell would have liked it IF their participation did grow the game, but that ship has sailed, sprung a leak and sunk.

Lets say there is some kid in manilla who, by chance,catches a game and catches the bug. What then? He gets to play it on a ps4?
How does having more people interested in an exhorbinantly expensive sport for which they have ZERO extant infrastructure grow the game.

Having tons of people tune in every four years and not a day inbetween isnt the path to grow the game.

And these new fans, they wont be able to distinguish the talents between junior A players and NHL all stars so what diffetence does I make?

If there were a huge compelling hook that occured at the olympics that could be used as a catalyst to grow the game, the NHL is cintractually preventef from using that footage by their "partners".

In the early rounds last year the big "hook" was likely TJ oshie and the shootout. How many ads did you see along the lines of " you saw what oshie did for Team USA now come see if he can do the same for the washibgton capitals".

The answer is zero. Despite providing the talent FOR FREAKING FREE, the nhl can't use olympic footage to promote the league that gifted that very same talent.

With the NHL calling the shots, THEY now control how the league is promoted.

You don't think it's helped one iota? I can't agree with that. I know it's anecdotal, but I know a couple of people who got into watching hockey from the Oshie game. Check NHL revenues from Nagano to now. It's not really possible to tell how much of that increase is down to the Olympic exposure, but growth is growth.

I'm not going to dispute the silliness of not letting the NHL show its players in Olympic action, that's just selfish on the IOC's part

 

[MXD]

I won't care about it.
But it's a good backup plan if the IOC continue to keep its collective head in its collective ass.

And indeed, the best backup plan. Now, if those parameters could be tweaked enough...

 

[sandysan]

Yeah, because it is of exemplary morals the NHL backs out of the olympics. Yeah, sure. Because it has nothing to do with owners not wanting to lose revenue every 4th year for two weeks.

I agree the IOC is corrupt to the bone, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think corruption is widespread everywhere else as well - including the NHL. The only reason the IOC and FIFA got caught was the United States didn't bribe enough themselves and they got pissed.

The nhl is,contrary to your assertions, under ZERO obligation to grow the game. They have the obligation to make money, which they can do by not focusing on markets outside of ones they currently serve.

And instead of praising the NHL for TRYING to grow the game by shutting down their season to gift THEIR talent for free, you chose to bellyache that they won't do it in perpetuity to sate your desire for best on best even if they derive no benefit but assume 100% of the liabilities?

They tried, it didnt work out so they are moving on. That this weakens the corrupt (and let's be clear here corrupt on an altogether different plane) IOC is nothing more than frosting on the cake.

The sooner people abandon the notion that the IOC is ANYTHING but a business (and a corrupt one at that) the better.

 

[sandysan]

You don't think it's helped one iota? I can't agree with that. I know it's anecdotal, but I know a couple of people who got into watching hockey from the Oshie game. Check NHL revenues from Nagano to now. It's not really possible to tell how much of that increase is down to the Olympic exposure, but growth is growth.

I'm not going to dispute the silliness of not letting the NHL show its players in Olympic action, that's just selfish on the IOC's part

The nhl has never had a sustained bump from the olympics. Ever. Anecdotes don't count.

the ioc isnt greedy, they are immoral and yet you STILL have people defending them.

But let's get to the nitty gritty. Let's presume that olympic participation DID grow the game but that this growth did not offset having to shut down the league in the stretch. As a PRIVATE company, they shouldn't be able to make that decision?

They tried, repeatedly. Its not worth the trouble. If the IOC did what EVERY other business did and PAID the talent, the owners might change their minds. But the IOC will never do this because they have convinced enough Rubes that they are entitled to get world ĉlass talent for free and then leverage this talent to get Billions in broadcast rights. And then the same rubes come out and call the NHL "money-grubbing". You might want to readjust the scale.

 

[BruinLVGA]

and if every other professional league was in the same boat as the nhl ( which needs way more than a ball, or a ball and a hoop to grow the game) they would also question " what the hell are we doing this for?"

the nhl has the draw (the talent) and unlike all of the other professional leagues they have the stroke, not the feckless IIHF.

Your opinion is that a private league should become altruistic to sate your desire for best on best when they get nothing in return for this participation?

i think that no matter where you travel in this wide wide world, that desire is always accurately described as pathologically entitled.

It was a nice idea, abandon the canard of amateurism and get the best players on the planet to grow the game. They tried, it NEVER worked. And you want them to just keep doubling down and providing world class hockey for free to enrich some corrupt amoral third party? the nhl has has their fill of making other parties rich when THEY exclusively control the draw.

I opened your eyes to a brand, grand new world of for profit, professional leagues all over the world who "gift their talents" not only for the OG, but also for the WC (I don't want to overload you too much with information... But I am afraid that they also "gift their talents" for plenty of pre WC/OG test games and also friendly international tournaments too. Mind blowing, I know...).
Now, to support your failing argument, you resort to questioning how serious those leagues are with that phrase in parentheses. With all due respect, you have no clue what you are talking about.

You look at your own little garden (the NHL) and believe that it's the only spot of green in the darn world. Just talking hockey, the KHL pays more than the NHL and even leagues that pay less like SEL, Finnish, Czech, Swiss NLA, DEL, etc etc are dead serious professional leagues, not some rickety operation just needing a hoop and a ball to increase the sport.
Let's talk other sports, for example soccer, where the cost to acquire ONE player like Messi would be enough to pay all salaries of SEVERAL NHL teams. What do they have all in common? They ALL "gift their talents" to national teams for a plethora of international games and tournaments of all kinds. The NHL however, doesn't. I guess the NHL feels they are better than any other professional league of any other sport in the world. This narrow minded way of thinking will never help hockey be anything more than a fringe sport in the world and folks like you seem so oblivious to this.

Furthermore, I seriously don't understand how folks in North America can't seem to understand the importance of competitions amongst nations like OG and WC. It seems to me you keep on proudly playing your national anthem at all sports events, in a show of patriotic pride and yet couldn't give a crap about international competitions when that anthem would actually mean something because you would be competing against someone else outside of your nation for the sake of sport glory.

Lastly, I also don't understand how North American fans actually vehemently defend this quest for profit by the owners and league: do you get a cut of it? If not, why on earth the profit aspect is more important than the sport aspect for you? Bah.

The tournament is very fitting. A mickey mouse organization hosts a mickey mouse tournament and calls it the "replacement" of the olympics, because having a shutdown for two weeks every 4th year - to promote the actual sport and give hockey fans world wide something back - is simply unacceptable. Unless it's in Canada or the United States, maybe.

It is however acceptable to shut down the entire league for a year every 3rd/ 4th year or so because of exploding incompetence. I won't be watching this farce, that's for sure, because I'm a hockey fan, not an NHL *****.

The biggest communist hockey league in the world vacuums the whole world of talent for coffee money with huge threats (called the draft, a.k.a. the cow market) and then rotates in their greedy graves if they ever had to give something back to the sport - ever. Why? Because it's not a sports league - it's a dirty business with bad owners.

Good post.

 

[BruinLVGA]

The IOC and FIFA are two of the most despicable, corrupt oranizations on earth. Say what you want about Gary, his big black mark seems to be extorting the Glendale City Council. Maybe the NHL should've hosted this event in Lebanon with facilities built by virtually enslaved migrant workers. Would it have more 'meaning' then?

And no, other pro leagues do not all give their players to the Olympics. The NBA does in the summer, baseball does not. Does cricket? Rugby?

Nobody 'gifts talent' to the WHC. Guys who are no longer playing hockey that year sometimes go. Sometimes they don't. Most go once out of national obligation and never return.

The Spengler Cup is awful because a washed up Curtis Joseph can start for Team Canada and win the whole thing.

Team Europe features a bunch of really good players who wouldn't otherwise get to play in an international best on best tournament as anything more than cannon fodder. The preliminary roster features players from Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway and Slovenia. Save for Slovakia, not a single one of those countries deserves to have their own entry. And Slovakia would get destroyed.

Team North America is the most compelling reason to watch the tournament - I understand it sucks from a US perspective because I'm almost positive Eichel, Gaudreau, Larkin and Seth Jones make Team USA. Nobody on Team NA is making Team Canada. I don't care how many people are on McDavid's jock strap, Hockey Canada does not take children with half an NHL season under their belt to this type of event.

Civil War opens today. It's going to make a gajillion dollars. The World Cup is not meant to be The Artist. It's meant to be fun. Yes, the commericals for it suck. That's on Roger's for not knowing how to tell a story.

The 1996 World Cup was great. The 2004 World Cup would've been better if the spectre of the lockout wasn't looming over everyone's head. With news that they won't be going to Korea (why exactly do we want to risk the best players in the world being nuked by that bowl-cut fool?) this is what we get.

Enjoy the show.

Your first paragraph is an effort devoid of any substance or meaning.

Take the blinders off, look at what's outside the borders of the USA: as I said, all pro leagues of all major team sports IN THE WORLD let their players play in all sorts of international games and tournaments, with no compensation. The only ones who don't are in North America and that is just disgusting.

You are absolutely nobody to say who deserves or doesn't deserve to have a team at any competition. And so am I. Those deserving to be at a competition are those who by THEIR PERFORMANCE EARNED to participate. That is for a serious, meaningful tournament (like the OG).
The World Cup is a meaningless all star type tournament. There's no escaping that.

 

[BruinLVGA]

The nhl is,contrary to your assertions, under ZERO obligation to grow the game. They have the obligation to make money, which they can do by not focusing on markets outside of ones they currently serve.

And instead of praising the NHL for TRYING to grow the game by shutting down their season to gift THEIR talent for free, you chose to bellyache that they won't do it in perpetuity to sate your desire for best on best even if they derive no benefit but assume 100% of the liabilities?

They tried, it didnt work out so they are moving on. That this weakens the corrupt (and let's be clear here corrupt on an altogether different plane) IOC is nothing more than frosting on the cake.

The sooner people abandon the notion that the IOC is ANYTHING but a business (and a corrupt one at that) the better.

Re bolded... So is everyone else (KHL, SEL, FINNISH, CZECH, SWISS, DEL, SLOVAKS, etc etc). Yet everyone else does it for the sake of the sport, but the NHL apparently will no longer do it. So basically everyone else is making an effort, but not the NHL...

And to be clear, the NHL would shut down TWO WEEKS every FOUR YEARS. During those two weeks, NO NHL games are canceled for good, every season still remains 82 games + playoffs. Yet the NHL, since 1994 has had no problems in shutting down TWICE the league for half a season for contractual reasons and ONCE for AN ENTIRE SEASON (we will see what happens on the NEXT lock out...). They probably lost some 160 games in total...
But here they are griping about the Olympics for two darn weeks every four years and there are folks like you who eagerly nod in approval. Do you see the irony in all this?

 

[sandysan]

Your first paragraph is an effort devoid of any substance or meaning.

Take the blinders off, look at what's outside the borders of the USA: as I said, all pro leagues of all major team sports IN THE WORLD let their players play in all sorts of international games and tournaments, with no compensation. The only ones who don't are in North America and that is just disgusting.

You are absolutely nobody to say who deserves or doesn't deserve to have a team at any competition. And so am I. Those deserving to be at a competition are those who by THEIR PERFORMANCE EARNED to participate. That is for a serious, meaningful tournament (like the OG).
The World Cup is a meaningless all star type tournament. There's no escaping that.

A meaningless all star game that will have WAY more talent than the WHC and only marginally less talent than the olympics ( although it appears they are being handed their hat).

So best on best or 4th rate vs 4th rate with the right crests played under the magic 5 rings that somehow makes people think devils are angels.

To me the choice is clear, but you can get your fill of substandard play provided they wear the right crests. Perhaps we can get the WHC teams to wear their jerseys as they play cornhole because, appatently, the quality of the play is at best, a tertiary or quaternary concern. So long as its the IIHF sanctioned jersey, everything else is moot, amirite?

 

[TheBigThree]

love the world hockey tournaments, don't really care when they play them.