The NHL had been hopeful that the World Cup of Hockey could make its return in February of 2021, but commissioner Gary Bettman said on Monday that will not be happening as there is simply not enough time to schedule it that quickly.
The league will hold an All-Star game instead, while the next hope for the World Cup of Hockey seems to be during the 2024 and/or 2028 seasons.
Back in August deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league was cautiously optimistic that World Cup tournament could be held in February in 2021 if the NHL and NHLPA could agree to keep the collective bargaining agreement in place until September 2022.
That happened after a potential 2020 tournament was also pushed back.
That agreement between the NHL and NHLPA to keep the current CBA happened, but the timeframe to organize a tournament is simply not there at this point.
The NHL brought back the World Cup tournament back in 2016 with Canada winning it. It was the first time the tournament had been held since 2004. It held previously been held in 1996 (with the United States winning) and was a successor to the Canada Cup which had been held between 1976 and 1991.
With the league not participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics, the 2016 tournament was the last time NHL players were involved in a best-on-best international tournament. It is still not known if the league will participate in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. NHL players had participated in every Winter Olympics tournament between 1998 and 2014 with the league taking a two week break.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.
