“We’re looking at an alternative type of tournament that takes advantage of the unique international nature of our sport,” Daly said Tuesday at an NHL and NHLPA media event. “We’re working on it with the players’ association to see it take place in February 2025,” added Gary Bettman’s representative.
Daly did not specify the specific form of the tournament, but according to AP, it should not be a “typical” World Cup, which would feature eight teams and last 16 days.
So far, the last World Cup took place in 2016. According to the original plans, the next edition was to come in 2024. After the war in Ukraine, which was unleashed by Russia, the NHL and the NHLPA had to reconsider their intentions. A number of European countries, including the Czech Republic, refuse to play against the national team, and the organizers still want the Russian hockey stars to compete in the tournament.
That is also why we are currently working with the date of February 2025, i.e. a year before the Olympic Games in Italy. According to Daly, part of the negotiations on the World Cup is the provision of conditions for the start of players from the NHL at the Olympics in 2026. The representatives of the competition agreed with the players’ association during the last extension of the collective agreement that hockey players from overseas will start under the five rings. An agreement with the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation is now awaited. The last time players from the NHL presented themselves at the Olympics in Sochi 2014.
“We hope to agree on a regular rotation where we have the World Cup in 2028, the Olympics in 2030, the World Cup in 2032 and the Olympics in 2034,” Daly said. He wants to have the conditions clarified by the beginning of next year.