The World Cup of Hockey which is in the plans for 2024 is likely to be delayed.
Our colleague Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN on Tuesday that meetings regarding the event will continue next week, but that the February 2024 deadline may no longer be feasible.
“Yes, new discussions between the main stakeholders of NHL, AJLNH, FIHG and some federations will take place during the weekend of November 4 and 5 in Tampere, Finland, when Colorado and Columbus play NHL games, “said LeBrun” The time start pressing. Let’s be honest, there are people involved who thought that if things had been finalized there would be a World Cup announcement last summer.
“The idea was to hold this tournament in February 2024. Gary Bettman and Bill Daly hinted after the Board of Governors meeting last week that the idea of delaying this tournament may be on the table now. And I spoke with other people today, and I think it’s something that other stakeholders have talked about as well.
“The bottom line is that there are still outstanding issues with the IIHF that have not been resolved and, of course, the elephant in the room, which Bill Daly and Gary Bettman talked about the week last: what to do with Russia? Other countries do not want Russia to participate in this tournament because of the war in Ukraine. This is a very difficult problem for the NHL to solve and NHLPA, so we’ll see where that takes us.
“But the idea of delaying the World Cup of Hockey seems to me to have a little more weight now than maybe a month ago. “
NHL Assistant Commissioner Bill Daly said in August the league was moving forward with plans for the 2024 tournament, and added that the league hoped to split group play between Europe and North America.
The tournament was last held in 2016 and, for the first time, had a North America team, made up of Canadian and American players under 23, and a Europe team with players from Austria, Denmark , France, Germany, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Daly added that the 2024 event would revert to the traditional format of individual countries, with a shortlist that would “universally encompass hockey’s more traditional markets.”
Team Canada beat Team Europe 2-0 in a best-of-three series to win the title in 2016. The tournament was the last time many NHL stars represented their country, with the league choosing to not send players to the 2018 and 2022 Olympics.
Three World Cup of Hockey tournaments have already taken place, with Toronto having hosted in 2016 and 2004, and Montreal and Philadelphia having shared the organization in 1996. Canada has won each of the previous two events, while that the United States won the first tournament in 1996.
