Pretty funny. Unfortunate for the players, but funny in principle.
This horse has been beaten to death for at least 100 times on this board, but I will answer you regardless: because nobody (including the NHL) has the right to redefine international hockey, and Team NA U23 or whatever you want to call it does not represent a country. Only national teams should be allowed in international tournaments. The firmat was not broken and therefore no changes were needed.
Crosby and Ovechkin may never play on the same team either, so does that mean that there should no longer be a Team Canada and a Team Russia but a joint Canada/Russia team instead? Or how about creating Team European Right-Handed U25. I'm sure that would features some great players too. Isn't it a shame that most of them will never play together either?
This is not about how exciting the players may be, this is about principles. The NHL no longer wants to attend the Olympics, but instead of organizing a tournament that could have had prestige and could have been a proper Olympic replacement, they decided to arrange a tournament only meant to appeal to North American fans and disregard the fact that Europeans in general are quite nationalistic when it comes to sports (not just the fans, but the players as well) and therefore will not be too happy to have non-national teams in a seemingly international tournament.
Indeed. The gimmick teams also prevent USA and Canada from icing their best rosters.
But I want to see Team Tall vs Team Small. A team of 5'10 players and under vs a team of 6'5 players and over. It's like the original UFC with a Sumo wrestler vs a karate fighter.
Edit: Lets just make Team Tall the minimum height of Anze Kopitar as he clearly must be included in this prestigious tournament.
Yeah, those short guys have everything to prove!
The All-Star game exists.
When's the last time you complained about people not caring about that? It is, after all, literally best-on-best.
When there's no stakes, no one cares.
I've come to the conclusion that supporters of this gimmick tournament simply want an all star exhibition, not an international tournament or a best on best. It's their right to do so, but there is no need to pretend this tournament is anything else.
you know, still, it's just funny that some people thought the games, the actual games in Toronto, would be half-empty, or badly attended, or that it wouldnt really get the attention in Toronto etc., and now, in reality, you have the pre-tournament game in Quebec, between the two supposed "gimmicks",
"the reason why no one will care", and the game, the 18,500 seat arena, is sold out. Just funny.
The attention in Toronto is quite low at the moment, it may change. Regardless of the lackluster promotion thus far (which I blame on Sportsnet more than the tournament itself) the tournament is a joke. If this tournament somehow became the most popular tournament in history with more viewers than every other hockey tournament combined, it still would remain nothing more than an all star exhibition. Not a best on best by any stretch.
I also suggest you look up what the word gimmick means. Might be useful, since you have no idea what best on best means.
Gimmick - a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.
Gimmick - a method or trick that is used to get people's attention or to sell something
Those definitions, the most common definitions of gimmick that can be found, exactly describe what these teams are. They were designed for attention and business.
You can like the gimmicks or this tournament all you want, but you cannot rewrite definitions to justify your
wants. Just like this tournament is not best on best, despite what you
want, the teams are gimmicks.
