Olympics and World Cup: when will we see the best hockey players in one tournament again?

The IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) takes care of its world championship, the NHL takes care of its business. Neither of these entities is going to make any drastic concessions. And this is exactly the way we have come to the stage where we have been waiting seven years for the world’s best hockey tournament. The desire for change is there. But is it big enough?

International hockey is already dancing on the edge of trouble. Unless hockey participation in the Olympics or the World Cup resumes soon, many stars will miss out on the opportunity to play in an international tournament. Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon are among the absolute top players in the world.

Neither of them are complete youngsters anymore, at the same time none of them have ever been given the chance to fight for an international trophy. Every decision to postpone a best-of-best tournament gradually thwarts one of their big dreams. True, they went to the NHL clearly with the vision of winning the most famous trophy called the Stanley Cup.

But the national team is a matter of honour and the desire to play for your country. Does anyone have the right to deny these hockey players this opportunity? On first thought, no. But upon deeper analysis, they actually do, as they are part of the product called the NHL.

The current problem is realized by virtually everyone. Both the players themselves and the people who decide the fate of international tournaments. In recent years, however, the NHL in particular has prioritized its business. Nobody wants to stop the competition in the middle of the season because of the Olympics or anything else.

A change in management could help

The NHLPA (NHL Players Association) introduced a new boss in February, Marty Walsh. After more than thirteen years, he replaced Donald Fehr, who had a very hard time in recent years convincing the NHL that the world’s best hockey tournament was in dire need of a tournament for the world’s best hockey players.

“I’m focused on making the Olympics a success. I’m working together with commissioner Gary Bettman, together with the IIHF as well. And hopefully there will be an agreement so we can move forward,” Walsh told ESPN right at the start of his tenure.

There has long been talk of NHL stars returning to the Olympics. Their participation was previously agreed upon for the last Winter Olympics in Beijing, but the process was ultimately derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. It put the NHL in a big slip, using the Olympics date to make up some postponed games.

Of course, many players were not happy about this. But at the same time, they knew full well what the situation was. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had already promised to do his best to have NHL players in Milan in four years. The fact that both the players and the league’s top officials are interested is a big step forward at this point. In the past, Bettman has often dismissed discussions about the Olympics.

After all, the participation of NHL hockey players in the tournament under five rings was also included in the 2020 collective bargaining agreement. However, it also states that it is “subject to the negotiation of terms acceptable to the NHL, the NHLPA and the IIHF or the IOC (International Olympic Committee)”.

Clearly, the greater the effort made by all these parties, the more likely it will be that NHL players will participate in the Olympics. And it appears that the interest at this time may be the strongest it has been since 2014. That was played in Sochi back then.

There is also interest in the World Cup

If there’s anything besides the Olympics that the world’s most famous hockey league likes even more, it’s the World Cup. The World Cup is organised exclusively by the NHL, which means that it also takes all the profits. And there is no need to talk about the interest in such a tournament from fans on the North American continent.

Marty Walsh boldly supports that idea as well. What is more, he believes it is important that it does not turn out to be a lone shot in the dark, as it was in 2016.

“If we’re going to do a World Cup tournament, we’re going to do it in such a way that we don’t do this one-off tournament once every ten years. So that we have more consistency going forward,” Walsh volunteered. This grand planning seems to be in its infancy. However, what is important, according to Walsh, is that all parties are interested in such a product.

What about the Russians?

Currently, of course, the possible participation of Russian players is also being addressed. The NHL is of course interested in them as they are part of their product. However, a number of overseas experts believe that if the NHL decides that Russia will also participate in the tournament during wartime, other teams from Europe will not come forward.

Thus, the whole idea could end up in ruins even faster than it could even be born.

However, it is an issue that the NHL intends to really address in the coming months. In short, finding any way possible to allow Russian players to play in the World Cup as well.

It won’t be easy, of course. Indeed, for the tournament’s global appeal, the NHL has previously said it would like to avoid teams made up of North American youngsters or the rest of Europe, as it did in 2016.

For the past two years, there has been speculation that the World Cup could be renewed as early as 2024, but it was the issue with the Russian players that pushed the entire tournament back. The next point that the league is looking at is 2025. The questions around the war in Ukraine remain the same, but the answers are also just as unclear.

Quite possibly they will wait until the whole war is over. A year of negotiations has shown that there is a lot of interest in a tournament of the best players in the world. But not so big that the NHL has to cut back, whether it’s Russian hockey players or a potential deadline that would disrupt their ecosystem.

The IIHF also has reservations

In fact, the IIHF also has reservations about some of the dates. Already February 2024 brought the first problems. The NHL wanted to hold the European group in Prague on that date, but the Czech Hockey Federation refused because of the World Championship in the Czech Republic in three months. Later, the IIHF also objected. It too is interested in protecting its competitions.

“That was a big problem for us because we have our own championship that we want to protect. And it would also be a problem for all European clubs and competitions,” said IIHF president Luc Tardif on the subject.

He added that the International Ice Hockey Federation is also not competing for the Stanley Cup with its championship on the North American continent. And that he would also expect similar respect from the NHL. So he suggests a different date.

“Maybe at the beginning of the NHL season, when the league itself holds various exhibition or preliminary games,” Tardif tossed in. Bettman and Co. have not yet responded to this specifically. But it sends a clear message toward the World Cup renewal that there are more than enough snags.

This is going to be a long haul!

Source: NHL, ESPN