Andrei SenchenkoSport correspondentAll materialsEmail to the authorThis week the National Hockey League announced plans to hold an extremely important event for itself — the World Cup. The tournament, last organized in 2016, is scheduled to take place in February 2024. The time period looks the most successful for the NHL. Previously, the World Cup was held in August-September, when the players had not yet reached optimal conditions. Now, the league has found an almost ideal period when hockey players are at full speed, but not yet burdened with tasks for the playoffs. Spectacular and high-quality hockey with profitable broadcasts is practically guaranteed. And if everything is more or less clear with this, then the most important moment of the tournament is still covered with many questions. We are talking about the composition of the participants of the World Cup. NHL Deputy Commissioner Gary Bettman Bill Daly said in his speech that at least eight national teams will take part in the competition, two more can be included in the so-called qualifying round. Considering the not very successful project with the creation of teams from Europe and North America at the last tournament, in the World Cup 2024 we will surely see the classic teams of Canada, the USA, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. But who will occupy the rest of the places, and whether Russia will be among the participants is a question.
