Insider shares an update on the next World Cup of Hockey

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Cooper Godin
November 3, 2023 (9:44 PM)

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The National Hockey League and the Players Association are looking to get back to a regular schedule when it comes to best-on-best international events, with the first tournament being the World Cup of Hockey.

Initially, the World Cup of Hockey was supposed to be held in February 2024, but due to various reasons, the NHL shifted their attention to having the tournament a year later in 2025.

In the last few months, there hasn't been a whole lot of new information surrounding the World Cup of Hockey, until today, thanks to ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

Weekes is reporting that the league is looking to hold the next edition of the World Cup of Hockey sometime between the Superbowl and March Madness in 2025 and it will feature only NHL players.

"**Keep an eye 👁️ on**
I'm told there are ongoing discussions between involved parties for a potential scaled down World Cup of Hockey featuring only @NHL Players, perhaps in 2025 on a potential timeline between Superbowl and March Madness. #HockeyTwitter"

A scaled down version of the World Cup of Hockey is the most ideal option for the NHL do to a best-on-best tournament in the middle of the season. Also only having NHL players involved suggests that the tournament will be held in North America.

The only issue with only NHL players being involved is that it brings down the amount of teams that can be involved. Canada, United States, Sweden and Finland may be the only nations that would be able to ice a full team, so the NHL may have to bring back a Team North America U23 and Team Europe to get other stars involved including German forward Leon Draisaitl.

Another issue the NHL needs to deal with is Russian participation in the tournament. Currently, Russia is banned by the International Ice Hockey Federation, but because the NHL runs the tournament, they could be involved, although it's still too early to tell. If Russia is allowed to participate, there's no doubt they'll have enough players to ice a team.

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