The World Hockey League

[DarkStar50 679]

Now that the Olympic Tournament is over, imagine if it wasn't! The World Hockey League with 8-10 national teams playing a full 70 game season and then battling for the Stanley Cup. Team Canada would come together given time to practice and get a new coach. The other national teams would also only get stronger and develop. Players would be moved in and out of the lineup. The level of play would be amazing as now the schedule would be reasonable. All of this will never happen but it is fun to imagine..........

[Quintin 16]

Sorta fun but can't help feel sorry for the NHL players not playing for their country missing out on this...

[Chadd 916]

I said it a long time ago and I'll say it again. I'd love to see a Euro super league that would be an equivalent to the NHL with something like 8-10 teams.

[ambro 0]

Have a 16-team league in Europe and another in North America. You can only play in the league in which continent(s) you were born in. Then the top two teams from each league play semi-final series (1 from Europe plays 2 from NA and 1 from NA plays 2 from Europe) and then the winners play each other for the Stanley Cup. Wow would that be amazing or what?

[chippa13 1844]

I like things as pat, thanks. I see too many international events just losing the luster after a while. Not that one would know with the low amt of Americans and Canadians caring about this years Olympic gold game. But still, I am content with what we have now.

Not really. With the amount of NHLers that played in the gold medal game, I think there was more North American interest than you're giving credit for.

[chippa13 1844]

Now that the Olympic Tournament is over, imagine if it wasn't! The World Hockey League with 8-10 national teams playing a full 70 game season and then battling for the Stanley Cup. Team Canada would come together given time to practice and get a new coach. The other national teams would also only get stronger and develop. Players would be moved in and out of the lineup. The level of play would be amazing as now the schedule would be reasonable. All of this will never happen but it is fun to imagine..........

Travel would make it cost prohibitive and jet lag would drag the quality down. How would you like to be Team Russia who has a road trip that takes you from Finland to Canada to the US to Slovakia? The only way these national tournaments work is by having a central location and you can't do that for an extended schedule.

[chippa13 1844]

I like things as pat, thanks.  I see too many international events just losing the luster after a while.  Not that one would know with the low amt of Americans and Canadians caring about this years Olympic gold game.  But still, I am content with what we have now.

Not really. With the amount of NHLers that played in the gold medal game, I think there was more North American interest than you're giving credit for.

From here it looked like it had 1/10th of the interest that the 2002 Gold medal game had from NA'cans for obvious reasons.

What were the ratings for the gold game from NA households. Feel free to prove your point

I posted in quite a few game threads and it seemed once their respected NA team got knocked out people could give two sheets to the wind about waking up at 8AM to watch the final.

That is what TiVo is for.

[McCabe24 0]

The times would also be an issue, I know I missed the first period because I fell back asleep.

[Chadd 916]

Have a 16-team league in Europe and another in North America.  You can only play in the league in which continent(s) you were born in.  Then the top two teams from each league play semi-final series (1 from Europe plays 2 from NA and 1 from NA plays 2 from Europe) and then the winners play each other for the Stanley Cup.  Wow would that be amazing or what?

I don't want to see guys who are now in the ECHL in the NHL because they were born in NA. I think a lot of Euro guys will stay closer to home but you shouldn't mandate it.

Travel would make it cost prohibitive and jet lag would drag the quality down. How would you like to be Team Russia who has a road trip that takes you from Finland to Canada to the US to Slovakia? The only way these national tournaments work is by having a central location and you can't do that for an extended schedule.

Either each team only plays on their continent or you have a setup like MLB does with their interleague games. One session has all of the Euro teams coming here and the other session has the NA teams going to Europe.

[crutesie 0]

16 teams from europe 16 teams from NA

top 5 teams from each league battle it out in mini playoffs, knockout then best of three then best of five and the final best of 7 (and 3rd vs 4th best of 3)

that would be awesome.

this would cut the nhl season to say 45 games and have this league like after it but before pre season. might have a lot of fatigue but.. meh, they get paid that much they should be able to do that stuff.

[hockechamp14 0]

I think the NHL should just try to expand to europe. Unfortunately I can't see the world globalized enough to accept it yet. Can you see a Minnesota HS player being happy about being drafted by the start up team in Finland, or the league all-star from the Calgary Hitmen being excited about going first overall to Moscow?

[ryno 0]

I like things as pat, thanks. I see too many international events just losing the luster after a while. Not that one would know with the low amt of Americans and Canadians caring about this years Olympic gold game. But still, I am content with what we have now.

I tend to agree. I watched some of the Olympic games this year but really found myself losing interest in a lot of the games. Olympic hockey just doesn't appeal to me the way the NHL always has.

I might be more interested if the college/junior guys from North America were playing. Guys who might care about playing for their country more, like a lot of the Euro players seem to.

[DarkStar50 679]

The smaller NA rink speeds up decisions and plays while the Euro rink spreads out the game for more skating and long passing. The NHL looks faster now in the small rink while the Euro game looks "prettier." The Swedes and Finns brought a more NHL/NA game to the big rink and made it to the Gold medal game with that style. Czech shot themselves in the foot with the goalie call but the Russians were the ones who totally lost their skill set advantage on the Euro rink by playing a 1-on-1 game instead of the "Russian Wheel" passing plays that kill the other teams with open man shot advantages. I like the Olympics for the passion each player and team brings to his game, more so from the Euros this time around. I like the NHL for those quick decisions with the puck that create mind blowing moves for goals!

[Eazy_b97 1]

I'd say that the spread in skilll level is much different in the NHL and the Olympics, so it makes for a duller game with more trapping.

[DarkStar50 679]

To tell you the truth, DS...I see much more passion from playoff hockey NHL. You agree?

The NHLers amp it up big time in the playoffs as compared to the 60 minute Olympic matches. Each Olympic game was a sprint compared to the marathon required to win the Cup. Nothing matches the intensity of a 7 game hockey playoff series. The battle of attrition is what seperates playoff hockey from any other sport.