Is A Four-Nations Cup Coming in February 2025?

The NHL and NHLPA are still working on trying to put an International Tournament together in February 2025. As stated in the latest of the Final World on Hockey, the idea was to have four to six of the top hockey nations square off in a “World Cup of Hockey.” Again, nobody knows what the official name is going to be, but that was the general idea.

Now, it appears the NHL and NHLPA will be doing a four-nation tournament in February 2025. As we see in the women’s game, there is a Four Nations Cup. This might be the equivalent of that in the men’s game. Again, the NHL intends on going back to the Olympics in 2026 in Milan, Italy. That has always been the plan since they decided not to go to the Olympics in 2018 and 2022.

The hockey nations slated for this mini-tournament are Canada, the United States, Finland, and Sweden. Due to the political climate, the Russians will not be involved. Again, some of these nations expressed concern over Russian participation. Originally, the plan was for Russia to be involved. As we have seen in other sports, Russia has played under a neutral flag. However, there was going to be potential for backlash from some of these nations.

Again, these are the Four Nations we see in women’s hockey compete for that Four-Nations Cup. But why not other hockey nations that have really good young players in the NHL, like Switzerland, Germany, or the Czech Republic? It does not make sense to leave those players out of this.

As written on NHLRumors.com, the World Cup of Hockey needs to be Best on Best. Not having certain hockey nations there does not seem right. But again, this mini-tournament is an appetizer for the 2026 Olympics, when NHLers will make their return.

There are conflicting reports about where the game will be played. Per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, the proposed format could see two games played in North America between Canada and the U.S., While Sweden and Finland could play two in either of those two nations. With the winners meeting up in North America.

However, that may not be the case. As Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period stated, this event could be centralized as part of All-Star Weekend or replacing All-Star Weekend. But this tournament will be done in a week to 10 days. And because of that, they want it centralized. There is just not enough time to do what they did last time when games were played in North America and in Europe.

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Again, nobody knows what the format will be, but it sounds like it will be done on a points-based system or what we see in the Champions Hockey League by aggregate goals over the two-game mini-series before the winners square off. The winners of those “semifinals” would then meet for the tournament championship, leaving open the possibility that the U.S. and Canada could meet in that final game.

Again, details are still coming out as the NHL and NHLPA would like this to happen, but there is still a chance it gets scrapped entirely, and we see a true World Cup of Hockey in 2028.

Remember, the last true World Cup of Hockey was in 2004 before the 2004-05 lockout. The 2016 version was not a true version with Team North America and Team Europe. So again, planning is key to an event like this.

We know the Players want a best-on-best tournament again. However, a Four Nations Cup might not be the answer.