The NHL should bring back the World Cup of Hockey, on one condition

The NHL is considering bringing back the much-maligned World Cup of Hockey tournament in 2020. Here’s why it should.

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey tournament was a mixed bag for the NHL. The eight-team tournament, which was their supposed answer to rebuffing a trip to the Olympics in 2018, had moments of fun for hockey fans, but overall did not draw in television ratings across the United States like the NHL had hoped.

Earlier this year, the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association had scrapped plans for a 2020 World Cup due to talks falling apart during their Collective Bargaining Agreement meetings. With the news in late August that the NHL and the NHLPA won’t opt out of the current CBA, talks seem to be back on to bring back the World Cup of Hockey for another run.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, in speaking to the media before the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks 2019 NHL Global Series game in Prague on Friday, stated that the league and the players’ association has looked into reopening the option of a 2020 World Cup of Hockey.

"“We’re totally, 100 percent aligned with the Players’ Association on the value of that property, to growing the game and promoting the game and creating a competitive, entertaining tournament. The form that that takes and the time that that takes and the details, it’s always tough to work out the details.”"

Daly also told the media that the NHL is looking to develop their own international calendar for at least the next three years with league sanctioned events and tournaments, of which the World Cup of Hockey would be one.

The resurgence of the World Cup of Hockey would be a pleasant surprise, considering the NHL didn’t make nearly the profits they thought they would have out of the tournament held in 2016. While the NHL and the NHLPA are still seemingly in preliminary talks to bringing back the World Cup of Hockey, the league should consider bringing the tournament back, and keeping it fun while they’re at it.

The best part of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey was, hands down, Team North America and Team Europe, the two all-star teams that were crafted out of players from various nationalities. Team North America captured the hearts of many, as they were comprised of players under 23-years-old, and put players like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Johnny Gaudreau, and Nathan MacKinnon on a team together.

The team was around for only a few weeks, but produced some of the best moments of hockey while they were on the ice together, including this overtime against Sweden that solidified them as folk heroes for the ages.

Team Europe, on the other hand, shocked many in the World Cup of Hockey. The team, comprised of players from eight European countries that weren’t already represented in the tournament, bested Team USA in their first game and eventually made it to the tournament final against Canada. Though Team Europe lost the World Cup of Hockey Final to Canada 3-1, their underdog story made headlines throughout the tournament.

However, before the NHL canned the World Cup of Hockey earlier this year, Daly announced that the next tournament will not feature teams like Team North America and Team Europe, effectively shutting the door on fun “super teams” like we saw in 2016.

“I think we did the Team Europe and the Under-23 Team as kind of a one-off, one-time thing,” Daly told The Fourth Period in November 2018. “I think our preference probably would be to have national entries, but nothing is set in stone.”

If the NHL and the NHLPA do bring back the World Cup of Hockey, the league should also reverse their stance on alternate teams. The 2016 World Cup of Hockey was remembered by hockey fans because of their inclusion of teams like Team North America and Team Europe, not because Team Canada once again won a major hockey event and the United States failed to medal after a disastrous showing. While it made for an unorthodox tournament — and a very strange set of jerseys — the sport of hockey was made better and weirder by those team’s existences.

The World Cup of Hockey will never have the same caliber of professionalism that the Olympics do, and the NHL should embrace that fact, not reject it, with whatever they decide to do for the tournament’s future.