“Examining the potential of a long-term international hockey event agenda for national team and club teams, as well as the co-operation between the IIHF and the NHL to grow the game.”
As discussed before, co-operation between the IIHF and the NHL is an important aspect to growing the game internationally. Right now the two organizations seem to be operating quite independent of each other. With the IIHF holding the World Championships during an Olympic year and always during the Stanley Cup playoffs it fails to gain any real relevance in North America and continues to cause conflict over player participation. A realistic approach is going to have to take place with the summit seriously debating a few key issues:
Should the World Championships take place during an Olympics year? It doesn’t really make sense to determine a world champion twice in one year. This year the Olympics maintained itself has the most important, popular, and competitive tournament between national teams. After playing a long NHL season, an Olympic tournament, and possibly a first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is it really that appealing for the elite players to continue playing at the World Championship?
Should the World Championships take place at another time, rather than during the Stanley Cup Playoffs? The answer to this question is undoubtedly “yes”. Having the World Championships at another time would allow the IIHF to build on the popularity of an Olympic like tournament. By having the best players available, the World Championships would gain relevance in North America. In addition, the support for the World Championships is very strong as evident by the sellout Germany vs. USA game at a 76,000 seat futbol (soccer) stadium in Germany.
Ultimately, it comes down to the ability of the IIHF and the NHL to compromise. In a non-Olympic year the Stanley Cup Finals finishes around mid June. Having the World Championships after the finals may be a good solution. The players from the Stanley Cup finals still may not participate due to massive fatigue but at least it would give players knocked out in earlier rounds time to recover and participate in the World Championships. In addition, the World Championships will be over before the NHL draft and the subsequent free agency period.
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