PARIS — The NHL and NHL Players’ Association are moving forward with plans for a World Cup of Hockey in 2024, targeting a 17-day window in February to hold the tournament.
The World Cup of Hockey was last played in 2016, when all games were played in Toronto. There were also tournaments in 1996 and 2004.
“We’re moving full steam ahead and that means we’re continuing to have regular meetings,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday during the NHL’s European Player Media Tour.
The 2024 tournament will feature at least eight national teams, with games played in North America and Europe, Daly said.
Meetings with the NHLPA and Luc Tardif, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, to discuss the World Cup were part of the trip to Paris.
“We’re out in market already moving ahead with plans for a February 2024 World Cup,” Daly said. “We’re still on schedule.”
Daly said the NHL and NHLPA are looking at a short list of markets to host games, including select European cities.
“We still want to play one pool in Europe, a preliminary round pool in Europe and a preliminary round pool in North America and move the semifinals and the final to a different city in North America likely,” he said. “I think that short list would universally encompass more traditional hockey markets.”
The tournament would likely take place across 15 days in February, with a day on the front end and a day on the back end built in for travel purposes.
Daly also said there are discussions about adding two nations to the tournament, bringing the total to 10 to create a qualification round to get down to eight teams.
“I think longer term, that’s our plan to have a qualification tournament at another time during the calendar,” Daly said. “Given the short timeframe we have between now and February 2024, if we have a qualification stage, I think it’s part of the tournament.”
There is still uncertainty about the potential for Russia to have a team in the World Cup, Daly said.
The NHL continues to suspend all business relationships in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February and aligns with the mandate from the International Ice Hockey Federation that the nation is suspended from all international competitions until further notice.
Planning for the next World Cup is part of a grander plan by the NHL to continue promotion of the game and the League internationally, a push that was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic but is resuming this season with the 2022 NHL Global…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at "ice hockey" – Google News…