WASHINGTON - Trying to create Olympic-like excitement without the hassle of a mid-season shutdown, the National Hockey League unveils the third World Cup of Hockey on Saturday in Toronto with global aspirations.
A worker tests out the games at the Scotiabank Fan Village prior to it's opening as part of the World Cup of Hockey festivities on September 15, 2016 in Toronto, Canada
Eight teams will stage a two-week event at the Air Canada Centre, home of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, with plans for more international events in the next few years despite no deal being set for NHL talent at the 2018 Pyeongchang or 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
"I'm not sure one will necessarily be related to the other," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday. "We're going to use the tournament as a relevant platform to see what kind of success we have."
Critics call the World Cup, previously staged in 1996 and 2004 but with 40 years of roots and heritage, a money grab by the NHL to produce better terms in talks with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
"We haven't had a discussion with the IIHF for a couple months now on where they stand, so I expect over the next two weeks we will get a briefing," Daly said on the event website. "The IIHF will be present in Toronto for this tournament, so I guess we'll have a better sense of where we're going with the Olympics in the next little while."
Canada will be favoured in the Cup, played on an NHL-sized rink and also featuring Sweden, Russia, the United States, Finland, the Czech Republic, a European all-star side and Team North America, an under-23 side with rising stars that boast speed and stamina.
The pre-season event keeps the NHL from closing down for two weeks at mid-season as it has every fourth February since NHL talent first played at the Olympics in 1998.
- 'It can be a lot bigger' -
"If you make it regular, I think it can be a lot bigger," Daly said. "We're committed to this tournament. We will do it again on a regular basis. How that fits in with the Olympics is really the question that I can't answer."
It's one that matters greatly as Olympic hockey would be greatly diminished without the elite talent.
Cup revenues go to the NHL, whose owners have complained about not even getting to show Olympic highlights of team stars who risk injuries that threaten Stanley Cup title runs to play for gold medals. It's a fine line much like the FIFA World Cup and global football clubs must walk.
"There are issues we have to address, but we have time to do that," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said last month. "We probably don't have to focus on that for at least another six months."
Bettman made it clear the idea for the NHL is for the World Cup to become the base for overseas NHL regular-season games and even an event styled like Ryder Cup golf, a potential Europe versus North America all-star series.
"We would like to do the World Cup on a regular basis, perhaps in locations throughout the world," Bettman said. "We're looking at other competitions that we can do internationally on a regular basis. With (the World Cup) as the foundation, you're going to see an increased international presence on a regular basis."
- No Olympic interference? -
NHL Players Association executive director Don Fehr says the league and union do not see the revival of the World Cup as a sign NHL players will be kept out of future Olympics.
"I don't think one has much, if anything, to do with the other," Fehr said three weeks ago. "The Olympics are a unique event. It's a multi-sport event. The players really value their Olympic participation.
"This is something different. It's a hockey-only event, which by design is going to give us the best quality player-for-player that any tournament of this kind has ever had. I don't think it interferes with the Olympics."
The Cup roots date to an era when NHL players were not allowed to compete in the Winter Olympics while the World Championships continue to clash with the NHL playoffs.
The epic Canada-Russia 1972 Summit Series saw Canadian NHL players pushed to the limit by unheralded Soviet talent before winning the last three games in Moscow to take the series 4-3 with one draw.
That sparked creation of the Canada Cup, a six-nation event staged five times from 1976 to 1991. Canada won four titles and lost the other to the Soviet Union in 1981.
The World Cup's 1996 debut was a sneak peak at Nagano won by the Americans. In 2004, Canada beat Finland in the final and a lockout wiped out the NHL season that was to have followed.