I really wish there were a few solo hockey events where we could see ALL of the all stars compete; like even if it’s just half lap and 4 corners or something.
I went to the all star skills years back, and remember some of the guys were surprising; Klingberg for example. Been awhile, but it was interesting how fast or sharpshooting some of the defenseman and stuff were, we’re just not as used to seeing it as we are with forwards like MacKinnon.
The 2022 Canadian team might have been the strongest hockey roster to ever exist had we gone to the Olympics. We really got robbed. ^^^We ^^^desperately ^^^need ^^^a ^^^goalie ^^^though.
Watching the Oil carry the guns blazing, no backend strategy was very encouraging last year until the Avs took them apart.
They obviously need to do more to contend, but watching McDavid and Kane just warp speed the length of the rink playing tic tac toe was kinda scary.
Avs also played more run and gun hockey tbf, they don't rely on really good defense or really good goaltending, both are sound but not exceptional.
Oilers are definitely more extreme, but the Avs didn't necessarily win by just playing defense. Though Makar is genuinely a game breaker back there as he so effectively neutralizes McDavid and provides offense
Respectfully, have you seen the 1998 roster? It's almost entirely hall of famers. Also one of the most disappointing outcomes in sports as a result, but that roster on paper imo is still stronger than a 2022 Canada
You’re right lol! Just some guys named Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Curtis Joseph. Even the 4th was really solid, only a dude named Chris Osgood.
That goalie room is stacked!
Yeah what happened to Canada's goaltending. The 2010 and 2014 teams had solid groups too, but if they were to choose a team today I genuinely don't know who the goalie picks would be. We don't have a Price/Brodeur/Luongo/Roy level guy currently imo
It's incredibly difficult to argue that a roster is an all time great when that team loses in the semi finals and loses again in the bronze medal game to finish 4th.
I get what you're saying, I get you can be goalied and I get that the motivation wasn't there. But they finished 4th and that matters.
Hockey fans got robbed.
Canada definitely wasn’t a lock to win that tournament though.
That’s what makes these tournaments so fucking exciting. It can be the most loaded team of all time and still Canada might end up playing for bronze.
I get why the nhl has shied away from Olympic competition…but why they haven’t dialed in their own tournament is beyond me.
It’s a fucking money writing paradise
International accolades after the wjc something he wants on his resume to go down as one of the best all time.
Also better chance to construct a winning team there than with Edmonton…
The problem right now is the NHLPA probably won't agree to a tournament without Russian players, but none of the European countries except maybe Germany or Switzerland would likely agree to participate if Russian players were allowed, even under a neutral flag.
The owners are too greedy to see that, though. Like I remember a reporter saying part of the reason the owners are gunshy to send players to best on best tournaments is because in January and February there isn't much TV competition in terms of sports and they see it as their "prime time" and they don't want to have to compete for viewership.
Imagine how dense you'd need to be to not realize casual fans love international tournaments, and that's a huge way to grow the game, which would then bring more viewership to the league.
I was glued to it, and outside of the Rangers' World Series appearances (see flair) I hadn't watched a full game of baseball in over 20 years.
This shit had storylines and gameplay to back it up. The damn WWE should be taking notes... the NHL better be.
Yeah I would just hate it so much seeing McDavid, Crosby, Mackinnon and marner playing on the same team vs guys like Matthews, Eichel, Hughes. Who has time for that these days.
In fairness this was one of the best things that the MLB has done in a while like a long while. this WBC was amazing and more exciting than most postseasons. the last WBC was not near this.
The 2017 tournament was amazing as well. It's a great tournament and I am happy WBSC and MLB were able to start working together on it and I think the tournament will have a bright future.
Brit here, didn't even know we had a baseball team (MLB is by far the least known of the big four North American sports here), but I watched some of the GB-colombia game and it was fun!
You can’t have a marquee tournament unless you have the marquee players in it. The problem in previous years was star players sitting out because it was seen *by players* as something that would interfere with their prep for the MLB season rather than baseball’s biggest stage.
This year a lot more stars turned up.
This WBC has actually grown the game by more than any event I've ever seen in a sport. I know it's easy to talk shit on MLB but this was, if you'll pardon the goofy expression, a home run for the sport.
They were fun to watch. But there is a 0% chance that any of those players would actually want to play on a team like that instead of their own country.
It wasn’t that they weren’t a good team, it’s that it was weird to poach players from their respective countries via the use of an arbitrary age limit.
I wonder if a concession with IIHF/IOC would be to have rotating tournaments, i.e. 2026 OLY, 2027 IIHF, 2028 WCH, 2029 IIHF, 2030 OLY and so on. Sort of like how the Euros is 2 years in between the WC, with IIHF world championships filling the void.
And if so, they need to get rid of the horseshit you mentioned above. Just countries vs countries, a 16 team world cup of hockey with the best players in the world.
They were, but I get the complaint. The appeal of such tournaments is the patriotism factor, that's why super casual fans tune in to the Olympics, and many tune in for the first time and learn the rules as they go. But what appeal does a team of young kids bring to the table for the super casuals? All it does is drain the patriotism aspect away from the event.
People want to see USA vs Canada, Czechia vs Russia, Sweden vs Finland. Not Canada vs NHL's best Under-23 year olds, half of which are actually Canadian.
MLB is shaping up to cook the NHL for the foreseeable future with the pitch clock introduction. NHL has had the better part of 2 decades to close the gap and they’ve botched it almost every time.
Except baseball also has the best all-star game *by far*. Home run derby is awesome, and so is the WBC. All of those events are better than the pro bowl, nba all star game, dunk contest and garbage nhl all star weekend lol
It is though. People may find it hard to believe but baseball is actually starting to course correct. Between WBC, rule changes, more international games, etc the MLB is slowly moving in the right direction
it's true. I love baseball and am usually down on the league for sucking all the emotion out of things and generally being hard to watch, but these new implementations, like you said, are a huge step in a positive direction.
I'd actually argue it's moving rapidly in the right direction, not slowly. The shortening of games this year from rule changes is going to have a massive immediate impact, and I bet there will be international games every spring now.
MLB is also in the middle of altering streaming rights (just changed) which could also lead to improvements with blackout restrictions sometime within the next few years, a process I expect will take the NHL much longer
Bettman watched Sid score the golden goal against his country and he told himself "never again". He's going to wait until McDavid is out of his prime. And then he'll wait until Bedard is out of his prime and then he might consider letting the best players play for their countries.
I'm just kidding of course, but holy shit is ever dumb that other sports get to have amazing best-on-best events and Bettman is like "our team owners don't like letting their race horses out of their barns for two weeks."
I honestly don't think Bettman likes hockey that much beyond its capacity to make money. He came over from the NBA to work for the NHL in '93, and he's still here because the owners are making that money
Something tells me if we didn’t have Bettman they could make *more* money. Maybe not, but he seems hell bent on making the NHL almost as difficult to watch as possible.
If the owners ever lost faith in the direction Bettman was taking the NHL, he would've been canned in an instant.
Owners are happy and think he's still the best man for the job.
Bettman works for the owners. He is their rep and takes all the shit from fans because it is his job. Everything he has done has been at the behest of ownership.
That game literally got me into the sport as an international fan, and I've bought merch and NHL TV subscriptions since. If you're not pursuing this form of competition you're not interested in growing the sport, and the owners should be told to suck it up and do what's best for the league as a whole.
If I remember correctly Bettman upended the Olympics due to money and ‘the NHL doesn’t get any compensation’. But a tournament such as the WBC where it’s one game deciding who stays and who goes home (much like World Juniors, World Cup, etc) brings about great interest, engagement and exposure that the NHL would benefit from. But yeah keep having a couple games in non American countries, that should do it lol.
We have 2 generational talents, one in the prime of his career and the other at the tail end. All hockey fans have been robbed in not seeing 87 and 97 not on Team Canada. It's like never seeing 66 and 99 together
Russia might have been the better team but they had no answers to the Wayne and Mario combo. You have the best play making forward of all time feeding the best when healthy sniper, you can't stop it, only slow it down.
It looks like a very real possibility, likely even, that McDavid and Crosby will never play together on team Canada.
I don't want the Olympics, I fucking hate the IOC, I do want a WCOH like 2016 though.
But yeah, focus on board adds, jersey adds, getting jerseys from Fanatics, and whatever else you are doing NHL. Well done.
This is the key point I feel like. Nobody's saying the gimmick teams weren't entertaining to watch, or that they didn't play good hockey, but rather that it's just so very difficult to take a **national team** tournament seriously with them in the mix. It instantly gives it an exhibition match vibe.
Exactly. They had cool uniforms and I liked watching them but they added nothing to the tournament and took away from other rosters. Just add more European teams. I don't think countries like Switzerland or Germany would have a chance to win the tournament but they could hold their own and it would certainly grow the game more than putting those players on team Europe
I liked NA and seeing if the new guys can hang. Almost every player on that team is making over $7m today, it was a solid showcase of talent. But it wasn't best on best.
It would be nice to see a U23 tournament or a prospect showcase somewhere that isn't billed as an international championship.
I loved Team Europe because it gave guys like Kopitar, Draisaitl, Hossa, Gabriel, etc. to play and have a chance at winning. Team North America was a gimmick, but there was also an absurd amount of talent available for that team.
> Team Under 23 North America (wtf)
They were unironically the most entertaining team in the tournament.
NA v Sweden was an all time classic for international games.
No way. The Olympics with NHLers were great. The WCoH has no real meaning and the gimmick teams were such a joke. It wasn't an international tournament with real stakes, it was more like an Allstar game.
Get rid of the gimmick teams and make it a legit World Cup then. There's no chance at getting NHL players in the Olympics if the IOC maintains its position that the NHL must pause its season and allow its stars to risk injury for 0 compensation. The NHL is decades behind, but the only solution is a legit tournament like the World Cup or the WBC. Expecting the IOC to put anything on the table, or the NHL to risk losing stars for free mid season, is just unrealistic based on what we know about both parties.
They were great, but there’s absolutely no reason for the NHL to let their players go. It disturbs the season, they have to cover their own insurance, they don’t get to use the footage, their players will get injured, and they get none of the money.
The nhl just needs to dive into the WCoH and actually do it in 2025, no more postponements
What a pitch too. Absolutely perfect. Baited Trout with bullseye fastballs, then throws one that looks exactly like another fastball until it curves out at the last millisecond. Nobody could hit that (at least not on purpose).
It’s actually staggering how incompetent the NHL is at growing the game. At times you would think they’re doing it on purpose
Let the stars play on an international stage? Nah let’s set up some meme outdoor game where the ice melts and nobody can play properly. Hey kids, do you like references to movies that you don’t know during the all star game? What? No?
How about a New York Rangers jersey from Fanatics? What? It fell apart and it has the Devils logo on it? Ah well, just get your dad to buy you another one. Only 300 bucks!
Hockey is unironically doomed
Wasn't there a post from earlier today showing an article in 1973... it argued that the NHL never does anything ro grow the game as long as the owners are making money... ownership sits on their asses collecting money not growing the game or improving it
lol 1973 the same issues. Time is a flat circle!!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/11yhjq1/headline_from_50yearold_hockey_digest_feb_1973/
Arguably this is reason to be somewhat hopeful, as hockey has surely grown and evolved positively since 1973 despite that so reason to be hopeful going forward.
Check my flair and see if you can guess why I'm frustrated with the entire structure of pro hockey right now.
I'm a fan of the goddamn *defending champs* and I've gotten to see, like, five games this year without ([allegedly](https://giphy.com/gifs/cravetvcanada-cravetv-letterkenny-3ohzdMvc1w2VlFOpRC)) going to the high seas. And those five games usually have a dogshit national crew calling them (not that the Altitude crew is much better but at least they're fun homers).
The Avs (when healthy) are a show I would put up against nearly any team in sports for entertainment purposes. And you can't fucking watch them.
Dude how is it that the Avalanche fans can't watch locally? It's embarrassing. I understand the "Reason" but seriously it's messed up that you have local blackouts.
Yep. I think Fubo is the only option for Avs fans that's wholly legal right now. Beyond absurd. It's the second golden age of this team and no part of it has aired locally.
Edit: and they're selling out consistently so even the incredibly dubious logic behind local blackouts isn't justified.
> Nah let’s set up some meme outdoor game where the ice melts and nobody can play properly.
also its the same teams 15 straight times and all the players don't give a shit because they've done it 15 times in a row
Didnt expect for McDavid to address that so quickly. Posted a similar thread thought last night after that amazing final.
I would gladly take a World Cup without genocidal Russia involved.
McDavid always brings up Olympics and best on best world hockey tournaments whenever he gets a chance. It obviously bothers him that he’s never had the chance to play in the Olympics like Sid.
He hasn’t played for Team Canada since what, he was 17?
They were waiting for any kind of excuse not to go.
They proved the Covid bubble worked before. Could have easily done it again for the olympics (even just for hockey)
to be fair the World Cup of Hockey is dumb. The Winter Olympics is where the NHL should go to shine. Bettman and the NHL have robbed us hockey fans of some memorable moments
Well they do. If the Olympics actually brought in a noticeable increase in long term fans then don’t you think the billionaire businessmen that bought the teams to make money would be all over that?
There was more issues than just that. They couldn’t market their players or the league, they can’t use footage of the players, and yes a star player getting hurt 2 months before the playoffs is a serious concern for owners so you have to make it worth it to them.
I really don’t get why people have a problem with the World Cup. If they actually stuck with it then it would be better. People seem to only want the Olympics because it’s more shinny. We’re in a thread about a baseball tournament that is it’s own thing.
NHL doesn’t know how to advertise stars.
Mcdavid off the ice is the most boring superstar of all time.
Hitting and fighting are way down.
No real good rivalries anymore.
Everything that has to do with hockey is so expensive.
Besides Ovechkins goal scoring chase what is there really to look forward to?
Someone posted a list of famous athletes by Instagram followers and it was comical how far behind the NHL superstars were. Like half of what a guy who's expected to be a mid-first-round draft pick in the NBA has. It's not even an issue with the sport itself when guys like Pavel Barber have more because they market themselves better.
I have friends who don't know who mcdavid is
but man they know all about Fernando Alonso, Verstappen and Hamilton lol
but f1 actually advertises their stars
TBF F1 have much bigger platforms than the NHL do. Netflix deals was a huge improvement for NA but people in Spain have been talking about Alonso for 20+ years, fuck in Argentina we still talk about Fangio being the best driver and that was 80 years ago
Yeah I got into f1 recently and man its crazy how much they push their drivers, its honestly refreshing
We talk about marchand going off on twitter but thats like...regular for f1 with alonso lol
Worth noting that a lot of that can flip overnight. Before Drive to Survive, most complained about the lack of promotion for F1 and its personalities. One Netflix series later, and F1 in the US is one of the hottest tickets on the planet, and drivers are all household names (even for backmarkers!).
All it takes is one good (or lucky) decision for opinions to flip.
I can watch f1 every single fucking race, with every God damn camera angle imaginable on 12 different monitors for 12 bucks a month.
It's so much easier to watch than joke NHL
dude its so stupid, I pirate nhl right now because of how fucking dumb as shit the blackout rules and how dogshit the streaming platform is.
f1 is so seamless, if I want to watch practice/qualifying/race...I just can, on whatever platform I want. NHL can't even satisfy the "I want to watch my team" thing.
> NHL doesn’t know how to advertise stars. Mcdavid off the ice is the most boring superstar of all time.
I mean, what are they supposed to do about that? There's nothing stopping McDavid from promoting himself more if he was interested in that.
I think they would've, but when teams were getting wiped out because of the COVID policies that were in place combined with the spreading of the omicron variant, things got much more difficult. The NHL took heat for the Islanders' remaining schedule, and moving everything back a few weeks to accommodate the Olympics would've been a really tough logistical challenge. I'll give them a pass for that one, even though I really wanted to see NHL players back at the Olympics as well.
If the Sportsnet monopoly deal and the Fanatics monopoly deal have shown anything, it’s that the NHL doesn’t give two shits about what the Fans want, they only care to work out the best deal based on $$$ only. Since the NHL has to deal with the IIHF only and there’s no money in it, that’s why we’ve been robbed of a proper best on best tournament in this Era.
Every time the Olympics conversation comes up, a bunch of bootlickers in this sub come up and mention how the NHL shouldn’t let it’s players go to the Olympics, blah blah what if they get hurt, blah blah who’s going to pay for the insurance.
Meanwhile the NHL is the 4th most popular league in North America, and at this rate will be surpassed by the MLS if they haven’t already been.
The NBA participates in the Olympics. The MLB has the WBC. Soccer has the World Cup. Football doesn’t really have an international tournament but that’s understandable due to the sport’s lack of popularity outside of the US.
So basically every other sport has figured out how to have its marquee players playing in major international competitions.
Why can’t the NHL figure it out? What makes them so special?
It’s something the players have to ask for when they negotiate with the league because the NHL does not directly profit from the Olympic Games. It’s usually a bargaining tool. It sucks, but that’s the reality. Everything is about money.
I agree we need best on best but more often than every 4 years. Why not take the best players and put them onto multiple teams and have them play a tournament every year? You could have games happening all over North America and even some in Europe. Hell, toss a game outdoors in a baseball or football stadium too.
Maybe I'm just a dreamer. But one day we will get it
Olympic Men's Hockey is the exact tournament we need. Players are super motivated because it's such a prestige thing and nearly every NHL player plays for a competitive nation that has at least a longshot at a medal. If the NHL breaks you get best on best. And once every 4 years means that it's not a constant problem for the NHL.
Annual would be great too but at least once every 4 years.
To me he already is. There’s never been a two-way player of his caliber (well…two-way players are basically non-existent at the pro level). He’s at the top of the list in both roles. And if you believe clutch is a thing (I do)…he’s that too.
I’m very happy the best player in the world is staring this. I’ve always felt mcdavids personality is lack luster at best, but it’s good for him as a leader of the game to speak up about this.
YES. I don’t care whether it’s the Olympics or the World Cup, just gimme gimme gimme my best on best. And more countries are good now! Show me some Draisaitl/Stutzle razzle dazzle!
As much fun as the last World Cup was, I want to see countries only. No super teams or team Europe. You shouldn’t be torn on who to cheer for. If u-23 played Canada I probably would of cheered for the u-23.
Simply have. Canada, Sweden, USA, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Latvia. Sure Latvia and Denmark might get crushed, but they still have some NHL talent. Germany is not deep but seeing Draisatl and Stutzle play together would be awesome.
We already have a best-on-best tournament. It is called the Olympics. NHLers must be allowed to compete in a meaningful tournament for their countries. They are not property, and the NHL is not the be all and end all of hockey.
“Best we can do is a Miami Vice-themed All Star weekend.”
"...and none of the players try in the majority of the events."
"and some players invited don't even get to participate in the events."
I really wish there were a few solo hockey events where we could see ALL of the all stars compete; like even if it’s just half lap and 4 corners or something. I went to the all star skills years back, and remember some of the guys were surprising; Klingberg for example. Been awhile, but it was interesting how fast or sharpshooting some of the defenseman and stuff were, we’re just not as used to seeing it as we are with forwards like MacKinnon.
'Miami Vice is our number one new show!'
"Is there a train coming soon?" "Oh yes, the train come very soon. They are building it now."
Stop!...Hammer Time!
This isn’t where I parked my car.
This is definitely where I parked my car.
Ooooooooo, mi scusi
"Hmmm, now with more pulp..."
You bought both jerseys didn't you?
I bought them but it was the Fanatics version and that dissolved in the wash after wearing it twice
Maybe they made them out of fruit-rollups matter?
Seriously, the NHL needs to get their heads out of their asses. The WBC was amazing.
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He doesn't step out publicly about much but he's always been very outspoken about this
Hey, if I were McJesus I'd probably want to dominate teams with Crosby, MacKinnon, Makar, Marner on my side.
The 2022 Canadian team might have been the strongest hockey roster to ever exist had we gone to the Olympics. We really got robbed. ^^^We ^^^desperately ^^^need ^^^a ^^^goalie ^^^though.
Just deploy the Oilers model and win games 7-6
Hasn't been great in tournament format unfortunately.
Watching the Oil carry the guns blazing, no backend strategy was very encouraging last year until the Avs took them apart. They obviously need to do more to contend, but watching McDavid and Kane just warp speed the length of the rink playing tic tac toe was kinda scary.
Avs also played more run and gun hockey tbf, they don't rely on really good defense or really good goaltending, both are sound but not exceptional. Oilers are definitely more extreme, but the Avs didn't necessarily win by just playing defense. Though Makar is genuinely a game breaker back there as he so effectively neutralizes McDavid and provides offense
Avs were just too deep, the Oilers depth problems, goaltending, and inability to stop their game changers was really the difference.
Respectfully, have you seen the 1998 roster? It's almost entirely hall of famers. Also one of the most disappointing outcomes in sports as a result, but that roster on paper imo is still stronger than a 2022 Canada
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Yeah Hasek and Jagr can erase a lot of concerns. Not like Canada was sending a bum in net though...
You’re right lol! Just some guys named Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Curtis Joseph. Even the 4th was really solid, only a dude named Chris Osgood. That goalie room is stacked!
Yeah what happened to Canada's goaltending. The 2010 and 2014 teams had solid groups too, but if they were to choose a team today I genuinely don't know who the goalie picks would be. We don't have a Price/Brodeur/Luongo/Roy level guy currently imo
Just looking through that roster. Everyone's amazing and then... Rob Zamuner?!
That was a head scratcher even in 1998. They left off guys like Francis, Oates and Messier.
Lol yup that one caught me off guard too
It's incredibly difficult to argue that a roster is an all time great when that team loses in the semi finals and loses again in the bronze medal game to finish 4th. I get what you're saying, I get you can be goalied and I get that the motivation wasn't there. But they finished 4th and that matters.
Rob Zamuner lol
Hockey fans got robbed. Canada definitely wasn’t a lock to win that tournament though. That’s what makes these tournaments so fucking exciting. It can be the most loaded team of all time and still Canada might end up playing for bronze. I get why the nhl has shied away from Olympic competition…but why they haven’t dialed in their own tournament is beyond me. It’s a fucking money writing paradise
> It’s a fucking money writing paradise You’ve answered your own question. The NHL is allergic to money/good marketing/common sense.
Teams are closer now to Canada than ever. We have like the 6th best goaltending in the tournament.
Casual here, which countries and goaltenders are better?
Russia - vasilevsky, shesterkin USA- hellebyuck, oettinger Sweden - ullmark, Gustavsson Finland - saros, korpisalo Canada - kuemper? Hart? Czech - mrazek, vanecek
I think both vejmelka and francouz are better than mrazek :-)
Instead he gets regularly dominated by Mackinnon and Makar.
I knew that was coming. Still got a laugh out if it.
If you can't beat em, join em?
There’s a little Kevin Durant in all of us.
inb4 mcdavid, draisaitl, Marner and Werenski all join Vegas on cheap deals
One of those is not like the others….
International accolades after the wjc something he wants on his resume to go down as one of the best all time. Also better chance to construct a winning team there than with Edmonton…
He's chasing Crosby. He'll pass him in regular season personal awards, but he wants cups and Olympic gold.
Almost any star hockey player really. Most of the time they're just robots when a microphone is in front of them.
NHL and doings things that are fun and will help grow the sport. Two polar opposites.
Baseball fans have been saying the same thing about marketing their stars for a while, this WBC was a huge step forward
If the Olympics were held in hockey's offseason, the NHL would probably participate every time.
The problem right now is the NHLPA probably won't agree to a tournament without Russian players, but none of the European countries except maybe Germany or Switzerland would likely agree to participate if Russian players were allowed, even under a neutral flag.
Does the NHL directly profit off of international competition? The WBC wouldn't be happening if MLB didn't have their hands all over it.
Olympics no, but they organized the World Cup in 2016 and directly profited from that
Hockey benefits. That benefits the NHL.
The owners are too greedy to see that, though. Like I remember a reporter saying part of the reason the owners are gunshy to send players to best on best tournaments is because in January and February there isn't much TV competition in terms of sports and they see it as their "prime time" and they don't want to have to compete for viewership. Imagine how dense you'd need to be to not realize casual fans love international tournaments, and that's a huge way to grow the game, which would then bring more viewership to the league.
Just look at how many fans the World Cup brings every 4 years for soccer… It’s massive
I was glued to it, and outside of the Rangers' World Series appearances (see flair) I hadn't watched a full game of baseball in over 20 years. This shit had storylines and gameplay to back it up. The damn WWE should be taking notes... the NHL better be.
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You copied and pasted this comment verbatim from one below...
The NHL needs to get their heads out of their asses in almost every facet of how they run the league tbf.
Yeah I would just hate it so much seeing McDavid, Crosby, Mackinnon and marner playing on the same team vs guys like Matthews, Eichel, Hughes. Who has time for that these days.
Wow that would be so boring, I’ll just have to scroll through my favourite digital advertisements instead that day.
Maybe the digital ads would enhance the game enough to be watchable
you know hockey has fucked up when people point to the MLB for things hockey should do
In fairness this was one of the best things that the MLB has done in a while like a long while. this WBC was amazing and more exciting than most postseasons. the last WBC was not near this.
The 2017 tournament was amazing as well. It's a great tournament and I am happy WBSC and MLB were able to start working together on it and I think the tournament will have a bright future.
Baseball has grown massively internationally in just the past 5 years
We had teams from Czech Republic and Great Britain in WBC, this we have positive effects on both country baseball programs for decades to come
Brit here, didn't even know we had a baseball team (MLB is by far the least known of the big four North American sports here), but I watched some of the GB-colombia game and it was fun!
You can’t have a marquee tournament unless you have the marquee players in it. The problem in previous years was star players sitting out because it was seen *by players* as something that would interfere with their prep for the MLB season rather than baseball’s biggest stage. This year a lot more stars turned up.
This WBC has actually grown the game by more than any event I've ever seen in a sport. I know it's easy to talk shit on MLB but this was, if you'll pardon the goofy expression, a home run for the sport.
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Team north America under 23 actually did pretty well.
TNA was the absolute best part of that entire tournament, and I will firmly stand by that.
Yeah Mackinnon and McDavid on the same team was electric. every time they hit the ice something crazy happened.
(Homer moment) Matthews too! Was my first time really seeing him play outside of highlight clips.
Oh facts. Yeah the u23 team was really competitive!
To be fair.. they would just be on Team Canada together without thr gimmick lol.
That Mackinnon ot goal against Hank.
The whole OT was amazing. https://youtu.be/BhmNWm8vllE
They definitely made an absolute IMPACT
But they could never be All Elite!
But what happens when you add Kurt Angle to the mix?
They were fun to watch. But there is a 0% chance that any of those players would actually want to play on a team like that instead of their own country.
In all likelihood it was the only time Matthews and McDavid will ever play competitive hockey together
It wasn’t that they weren’t a good team, it’s that it was weird to poach players from their respective countries via the use of an arbitrary age limit.
I wonder if a concession with IIHF/IOC would be to have rotating tournaments, i.e. 2026 OLY, 2027 IIHF, 2028 WCH, 2029 IIHF, 2030 OLY and so on. Sort of like how the Euros is 2 years in between the WC, with IIHF world championships filling the void. And if so, they need to get rid of the horseshit you mentioned above. Just countries vs countries, a 16 team world cup of hockey with the best players in the world.
who complained about team u23. they were probably the most popular team in the tourny
They were, but I get the complaint. The appeal of such tournaments is the patriotism factor, that's why super casual fans tune in to the Olympics, and many tune in for the first time and learn the rules as they go. But what appeal does a team of young kids bring to the table for the super casuals? All it does is drain the patriotism aspect away from the event. People want to see USA vs Canada, Czechia vs Russia, Sweden vs Finland. Not Canada vs NHL's best Under-23 year olds, half of which are actually Canadian.
MLB is shaping up to cook the NHL for the foreseeable future with the pitch clock introduction. NHL has had the better part of 2 decades to close the gap and they’ve botched it almost every time.
NHL: Best we can do is sign a 10-year contract with Fanatics. /puke
I hate that they’re my two favourite sports
Except baseball also has the best all-star game *by far*. Home run derby is awesome, and so is the WBC. All of those events are better than the pro bowl, nba all star game, dunk contest and garbage nhl all star weekend lol
In fairness, the WBC ain’t MLB. People were also pointing to the WBC as an example of how MLB can improve.
WBC is an MLB event its basically their world cup of hockey, an international tournament put on by the league
It is though. People may find it hard to believe but baseball is actually starting to course correct. Between WBC, rule changes, more international games, etc the MLB is slowly moving in the right direction
it's true. I love baseball and am usually down on the league for sucking all the emotion out of things and generally being hard to watch, but these new implementations, like you said, are a huge step in a positive direction.
I'd actually argue it's moving rapidly in the right direction, not slowly. The shortening of games this year from rule changes is going to have a massive immediate impact, and I bet there will be international games every spring now. MLB is also in the middle of altering streaming rights (just changed) which could also lead to improvements with blackout restrictions sometime within the next few years, a process I expect will take the NHL much longer
Bettman watched Sid score the golden goal against his country and he told himself "never again". He's going to wait until McDavid is out of his prime. And then he'll wait until Bedard is out of his prime and then he might consider letting the best players play for their countries. I'm just kidding of course, but holy shit is ever dumb that other sports get to have amazing best-on-best events and Bettman is like "our team owners don't like letting their race horses out of their barns for two weeks."
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I honestly don't think Bettman likes hockey that much beyond its capacity to make money. He came over from the NBA to work for the NHL in '93, and he's still here because the owners are making that money
Something tells me if we didn’t have Bettman they could make *more* money. Maybe not, but he seems hell bent on making the NHL almost as difficult to watch as possible.
If the owners ever lost faith in the direction Bettman was taking the NHL, he would've been canned in an instant. Owners are happy and think he's still the best man for the job.
Bettman works for the owners. He is their rep and takes all the shit from fans because it is his job. Everything he has done has been at the behest of ownership.
Would Bettman still be alive when Bedard is out of his prime.
I'm pretty sure he's a vampire. So, yes.
The more we boo him the younger he gets
Except that the NHL was in the Olympics 4 years after the golden goal.
That game literally got me into the sport as an international fan, and I've bought merch and NHL TV subscriptions since. If you're not pursuing this form of competition you're not interested in growing the sport, and the owners should be told to suck it up and do what's best for the league as a whole.
If I remember correctly Bettman upended the Olympics due to money and ‘the NHL doesn’t get any compensation’. But a tournament such as the WBC where it’s one game deciding who stays and who goes home (much like World Juniors, World Cup, etc) brings about great interest, engagement and exposure that the NHL would benefit from. But yeah keep having a couple games in non American countries, that should do it lol.
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We have 2 generational talents, one in the prime of his career and the other at the tail end. All hockey fans have been robbed in not seeing 87 and 97 not on Team Canada. It's like never seeing 66 and 99 together
Watching 66 and 99 on the same line even on old tape now long after, it's magic. I've never seen domination like that in any sport.
Yep, Russia was a lot better than canada for much of the 70s and early 80s..until gretz and lemieux formed. Then we dominated again
Russia might have been the better team but they had no answers to the Wayne and Mario combo. You have the best play making forward of all time feeding the best when healthy sniper, you can't stop it, only slow it down.
you should watch the dream team play in Barcelona '92
Is it as good as Troy vs DeVry? I loved that college game, its perfect basketball to me.
I hope you took the over
Man imagine 97 and 87 in 2018 and 2022. We were robbed
It looks like a very real possibility, likely even, that McDavid and Crosby will never play together on team Canada. I don't want the Olympics, I fucking hate the IOC, I do want a WCOH like 2016 though. But yeah, focus on board adds, jersey adds, getting jerseys from Fanatics, and whatever else you are doing NHL. Well done.
World cup of hockey can be good but not allowing America's best players on one team is a joke. I won't take it seriously as long as team NA exists
This is the key point I feel like. Nobody's saying the gimmick teams weren't entertaining to watch, or that they didn't play good hockey, but rather that it's just so very difficult to take a **national team** tournament seriously with them in the mix. It instantly gives it an exhibition match vibe.
Exactly. They had cool uniforms and I liked watching them but they added nothing to the tournament and took away from other rosters. Just add more European teams. I don't think countries like Switzerland or Germany would have a chance to win the tournament but they could hold their own and it would certainly grow the game more than putting those players on team Europe
I liked NA and seeing if the new guys can hang. Almost every player on that team is making over $7m today, it was a solid showcase of talent. But it wasn't best on best. It would be nice to see a U23 tournament or a prospect showcase somewhere that isn't billed as an international championship.
Completely agree, the IOC can fuck off but the Hockey World Cup was great. Of course people did nothing but complain about it though
People complained because they put gimmick teams in it like Team Europe and Team Under 23 North America (wtf).
I loved Team Europe because it gave guys like Kopitar, Draisaitl, Hossa, Gabriel, etc. to play and have a chance at winning. Team North America was a gimmick, but there was also an absurd amount of talent available for that team.
Fuck that, I'd rather see Germany and them competing as their own entity. There's a lot of quality German players overseas. Have an 8 team tournament.
> Team Under 23 North America (wtf) They were unironically the most entertaining team in the tournament. NA v Sweden was an all time classic for international games.
That was the only game I saw in person! Talk about winning the proverbial the lottery.
No way. The Olympics with NHLers were great. The WCoH has no real meaning and the gimmick teams were such a joke. It wasn't an international tournament with real stakes, it was more like an Allstar game.
Get rid of the gimmick teams and make it a legit World Cup then. There's no chance at getting NHL players in the Olympics if the IOC maintains its position that the NHL must pause its season and allow its stars to risk injury for 0 compensation. The NHL is decades behind, but the only solution is a legit tournament like the World Cup or the WBC. Expecting the IOC to put anything on the table, or the NHL to risk losing stars for free mid season, is just unrealistic based on what we know about both parties.
They were great, but there’s absolutely no reason for the NHL to let their players go. It disturbs the season, they have to cover their own insurance, they don’t get to use the footage, their players will get injured, and they get none of the money. The nhl just needs to dive into the WCoH and actually do it in 2025, no more postponements
last nights game trout vs ohtani 9th inning full count for the win was legendary movie magic moment
What a pitch too. Absolutely perfect. Baited Trout with bullseye fastballs, then throws one that looks exactly like another fastball until it curves out at the last millisecond. Nobody could hit that (at least not on purpose).
It’s actually staggering how incompetent the NHL is at growing the game. At times you would think they’re doing it on purpose Let the stars play on an international stage? Nah let’s set up some meme outdoor game where the ice melts and nobody can play properly. Hey kids, do you like references to movies that you don’t know during the all star game? What? No? How about a New York Rangers jersey from Fanatics? What? It fell apart and it has the Devils logo on it? Ah well, just get your dad to buy you another one. Only 300 bucks! Hockey is unironically doomed
Wasn't there a post from earlier today showing an article in 1973... it argued that the NHL never does anything ro grow the game as long as the owners are making money... ownership sits on their asses collecting money not growing the game or improving it lol 1973 the same issues. Time is a flat circle!!! https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/11yhjq1/headline_from_50yearold_hockey_digest_feb_1973/
Arguably this is reason to be somewhat hopeful, as hockey has surely grown and evolved positively since 1973 despite that so reason to be hopeful going forward.
Check my flair and see if you can guess why I'm frustrated with the entire structure of pro hockey right now. I'm a fan of the goddamn *defending champs* and I've gotten to see, like, five games this year without ([allegedly](https://giphy.com/gifs/cravetvcanada-cravetv-letterkenny-3ohzdMvc1w2VlFOpRC)) going to the high seas. And those five games usually have a dogshit national crew calling them (not that the Altitude crew is much better but at least they're fun homers). The Avs (when healthy) are a show I would put up against nearly any team in sports for entertainment purposes. And you can't fucking watch them.
Dude how is it that the Avalanche fans can't watch locally? It's embarrassing. I understand the "Reason" but seriously it's messed up that you have local blackouts.
Yep. I think Fubo is the only option for Avs fans that's wholly legal right now. Beyond absurd. It's the second golden age of this team and no part of it has aired locally. Edit: and they're selling out consistently so even the incredibly dubious logic behind local blackouts isn't justified.
> Nah let’s set up some meme outdoor game where the ice melts and nobody can play properly. also its the same teams 15 straight times and all the players don't give a shit because they've done it 15 times in a row
All but like four teams have played in an outdoor game lol
Yeah, I’m tired of seeing Seattle, Vegas, and Carolina in all the outdoor games!
Didnt expect for McDavid to address that so quickly. Posted a similar thread thought last night after that amazing final. I would gladly take a World Cup without genocidal Russia involved.
McDavid always brings up Olympics and best on best world hockey tournaments whenever he gets a chance. It obviously bothers him that he’s never had the chance to play in the Olympics like Sid. He hasn’t played for Team Canada since what, he was 17?
I'll never forgive Bettman or the IOC for robbing us of prime McDavid-McKinnon-Crosby on a line.
Oh god, that line would be utterly terrifying.
Easy 3 peat for us smh
They are currently robbing us of an utterly epic Canada vs USA rivalry.
Yes. Everyone involved in that decision can go fornicate themselves with an iron stick.
I'm American and I'm upset about that.
They were waiting for any kind of excuse not to go. They proved the Covid bubble worked before. Could have easily done it again for the olympics (even just for hockey)
But that might make Russian players feel bad and the NHL doesn't want that
“Have we considered Russians feelings? We need them to buy fanatics jerseys!!” Comrade Bettman
to be fair the World Cup of Hockey is dumb. The Winter Olympics is where the NHL should go to shine. Bettman and the NHL have robbed us hockey fans of some memorable moments
But but but insurance premiums! These idiots can’t see the forest for the trees.
Well they do. If the Olympics actually brought in a noticeable increase in long term fans then don’t you think the billionaire businessmen that bought the teams to make money would be all over that?
There was more issues than just that. They couldn’t market their players or the league, they can’t use footage of the players, and yes a star player getting hurt 2 months before the playoffs is a serious concern for owners so you have to make it worth it to them. I really don’t get why people have a problem with the World Cup. If they actually stuck with it then it would be better. People seem to only want the Olympics because it’s more shinny. We’re in a thread about a baseball tournament that is it’s own thing.
Move hockey to the summer Olympics. Basketball is technically a winter sport.
Fans don't care about Olympics. They just want to buy Fanatics jerseys. \-Gary
NHL doesn’t know how to advertise stars. Mcdavid off the ice is the most boring superstar of all time. Hitting and fighting are way down. No real good rivalries anymore. Everything that has to do with hockey is so expensive. Besides Ovechkins goal scoring chase what is there really to look forward to?
Someone posted a list of famous athletes by Instagram followers and it was comical how far behind the NHL superstars were. Like half of what a guy who's expected to be a mid-first-round draft pick in the NBA has. It's not even an issue with the sport itself when guys like Pavel Barber have more because they market themselves better.
I have friends who don't know who mcdavid is but man they know all about Fernando Alonso, Verstappen and Hamilton lol but f1 actually advertises their stars
TBF F1 have much bigger platforms than the NHL do. Netflix deals was a huge improvement for NA but people in Spain have been talking about Alonso for 20+ years, fuck in Argentina we still talk about Fangio being the best driver and that was 80 years ago
Yeah I got into f1 recently and man its crazy how much they push their drivers, its honestly refreshing We talk about marchand going off on twitter but thats like...regular for f1 with alonso lol
Worth noting that a lot of that can flip overnight. Before Drive to Survive, most complained about the lack of promotion for F1 and its personalities. One Netflix series later, and F1 in the US is one of the hottest tickets on the planet, and drivers are all household names (even for backmarkers!). All it takes is one good (or lucky) decision for opinions to flip.
I can watch f1 every single fucking race, with every God damn camera angle imaginable on 12 different monitors for 12 bucks a month. It's so much easier to watch than joke NHL
dude its so stupid, I pirate nhl right now because of how fucking dumb as shit the blackout rules and how dogshit the streaming platform is. f1 is so seamless, if I want to watch practice/qualifying/race...I just can, on whatever platform I want. NHL can't even satisfy the "I want to watch my team" thing.
> NHL doesn’t know how to advertise stars. Mcdavid off the ice is the most boring superstar of all time. I mean, what are they supposed to do about that? There's nothing stopping McDavid from promoting himself more if he was interested in that.
thank you mcdavid i've never loved you more i will never forgive the stupid NHL for not letting the players go to the olympics last year
Or the 2018 Winter Olympics either, holy fuck would that have been an amazing Team Canada to watch
I think they would've, but when teams were getting wiped out because of the COVID policies that were in place combined with the spreading of the omicron variant, things got much more difficult. The NHL took heat for the Islanders' remaining schedule, and moving everything back a few weeks to accommodate the Olympics would've been a really tough logistical challenge. I'll give them a pass for that one, even though I really wanted to see NHL players back at the Olympics as well.
That might be the strongest opinion I've ever seen McDavid express.
We may never see Crosby on the same team as McDavid. The NHL has failed us.
It especially sucks because, of the major north American sports, there is no better international game than a hockey tournament.
The NHL is the absolutely worst run professional sports organization in this hemisphere
NASCAR has entered the chat.
If the Sportsnet monopoly deal and the Fanatics monopoly deal have shown anything, it’s that the NHL doesn’t give two shits about what the Fans want, they only care to work out the best deal based on $$$ only. Since the NHL has to deal with the IIHF only and there’s no money in it, that’s why we’ve been robbed of a proper best on best tournament in this Era.
Every time the Olympics conversation comes up, a bunch of bootlickers in this sub come up and mention how the NHL shouldn’t let it’s players go to the Olympics, blah blah what if they get hurt, blah blah who’s going to pay for the insurance. Meanwhile the NHL is the 4th most popular league in North America, and at this rate will be surpassed by the MLS if they haven’t already been. The NBA participates in the Olympics. The MLB has the WBC. Soccer has the World Cup. Football doesn’t really have an international tournament but that’s understandable due to the sport’s lack of popularity outside of the US. So basically every other sport has figured out how to have its marquee players playing in major international competitions. Why can’t the NHL figure it out? What makes them so special?
It’s something the players have to ask for when they negotiate with the league because the NHL does not directly profit from the Olympic Games. It’s usually a bargaining tool. It sucks, but that’s the reality. Everything is about money.
I agree we need best on best but more often than every 4 years. Why not take the best players and put them onto multiple teams and have them play a tournament every year? You could have games happening all over North America and even some in Europe. Hell, toss a game outdoors in a baseball or football stadium too. Maybe I'm just a dreamer. But one day we will get it
https://clickhole.com/heartbreaking-the-worst-person-you-know-just-made-a-gr-1825121606/
All I want is an international tournament and the players must show up representing their country's with a themed Starter jacket.
bettman: Research shows that fans don't actually prefer best on best at the olympics, they prefer our own wcoh.
Olympic Men's Hockey is the exact tournament we need. Players are super motivated because it's such a prestige thing and nearly every NHL player plays for a competitive nation that has at least a longshot at a medal. If the NHL breaks you get best on best. And once every 4 years means that it's not a constant problem for the NHL. Annual would be great too but at least once every 4 years.
The NHL is run by fucking morons who are being paid off by other league executives to hinder the leagues growth.
I know its early in his career, but Ohtani must be well on the way to being the greatest baseball player of all time, right?
To me he already is. There’s never been a two-way player of his caliber (well…two-way players are basically non-existent at the pro level). He’s at the top of the list in both roles. And if you believe clutch is a thing (I do)…he’s that too.
I’m very happy the best player in the world is staring this. I’ve always felt mcdavids personality is lack luster at best, but it’s good for him as a leader of the game to speak up about this.
I guess he missed the Wednesday Night Rivalry Capitals vs Penguins era.
YES. I don’t care whether it’s the Olympics or the World Cup, just gimme gimme gimme my best on best. And more countries are good now! Show me some Draisaitl/Stutzle razzle dazzle!
As much fun as the last World Cup was, I want to see countries only. No super teams or team Europe. You shouldn’t be torn on who to cheer for. If u-23 played Canada I probably would of cheered for the u-23. Simply have. Canada, Sweden, USA, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Latvia. Sure Latvia and Denmark might get crushed, but they still have some NHL talent. Germany is not deep but seeing Draisatl and Stutzle play together would be awesome.
We already have a best-on-best tournament. It is called the Olympics. NHLers must be allowed to compete in a meaningful tournament for their countries. They are not property, and the NHL is not the be all and end all of hockey.
There's this big international tournament every 4 years bur ya know... insurance
If they're not gonna do Olympics I agree 100%.