The World Cup of Hockey returned in 2016 with Team Canada unsurprisingly dominating the field and capturing a title victory. After a 12-year absence, the impact and entertainment value of the event was hard to gauge. The tourney was largely positive with solid broadcasts and funky new hybrid teams but wasn’t without issues like lack of attendance at some games. Don’t expect another decade-plus hiatus for the tourney, as the NHL and NHLPA made it clear the World Cup is here to stay.
[link_box id=”22277″ site_id=”17″ layout=”link-box-third” alignment=”alignright”]The Associated Press reports Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr confirmed they expect the tournament to return in 2020. The tournament might hold higher stakes next time, with negotiations with the International Olympic Committee on whether players will play in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea reportedly “50-50.” Fehr told AP he’s prepared to deal with a potential NHL-less Olympics.
”Everybody understands that nobody’s going to risk their career and future earnings and all the rest of it in return for no compensation and no coverage,” Fehr told the AP. ”No one will do that. They understand that. That’s been a given for a long, long time. If it plays out that way, which I do not expect it to play out that way, we’ll deal with it.”
The IOC and NHL seem to be at least breaking ground on talks and there’s reason to be optimistic about players returning to the Olympic games in 2018. Should a deal be struck, one of the World Cup and Olympics tournaments would take place every two years. Even if it takes away from the World Cup’s prominence, the more hockey, the better.
[theScore]
