By Tyler Fennell
Staff Writer
The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off replaced this year’s NHL All-Star Game. It would mark the first time since 2016’s World Cup of Hockey that the sport had a true best on best international tournament. It was a tournament where four of the world’s biggest hockey superpowers would face off in a short, two week tournament.
The final of the tournament between the United States and Canada averaged 9.3 million viewers in the United States and 16.1 million viewers across all of North America. This made it the most watched NHL game ever in the United States.
Despite the United States losing the final in overtime to Canada, the game showed that hockey has major staying power in the United States.
It also showed that after next year’s confirmed NHL All-Star Game, they should keep a best on best in-season international tournament as a recurring event for the sport.
The NHL All-Star Game has been criticized for the lack of care from the league as to what happens, but also the lack of care for the players.
Last year, Nikita Kucherov went viral across the hockey world for his complete disinterest in the skills competition portion of the All-Star Weekend, laughing at the challenges he was presented, and putting in zero effort.
This is no fault of Kucherov for feeling this way toward the game. The incentive was a $1 million check, and with many of the elite talent in the league making several times more than that in a year, there is not a reason for many hockey players to care for the All-Star Game.
Making it to the All-Star Game is often more important than the game itself from the perspective of analyzing careers. However, what trumps an All-Star Game appearance in analysis is championships and awards.
The culture around hockey is more concerned with winning things that have meaning. Winning the Stanley Cup immortalizes you in hockey history with every champion’s name being engraved on the trophy. Winning a best on best international tournament means national pride is on the line. It is what makes the FIFA World Cup so successful in soccer.
Fans buy into the stakes of an international tournament. They resonate with the pride of the players. It is the same reason the playoffs for every major sport are so captivating.
The tournament had playoff energy because the stakes were real. Thankfully, there is confirmed international hockey in the coming years. The 2026 Winter Olympics will see the return of NHL players being allowed to compete for the first time in over a decade.
In 2028, we will see the return of the World Cup of Hockey. If it ends up being similar in format to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the last time we have seen this tournament, there is a strong possibility that there will be two under-23 all star teams, Team Europe and Team North America.
Other teams that would probably compete would be those seen in the 4 Nations tournament, along with the Czech Republic, Germany and, depending on the political landscape, Russia.
