BoG Notebook: NHL optimistic about return of international best-on-best

SEATTLE — It may not be official just yet, but we’re edging closer to seeing Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard as teammates in a best-on-best international competition.

On Tuesday, after the second day of the NHL Board of Governors meetings came to a close at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle, commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed the league’s desire to hold an in-season tournament in February of 2025. It’s expected to be a four-team competition, with NHL players from Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden included. 

Bettman said he expects the competition to be held in multiple venues but added the league hasn’t "resolved that yet, and that’s why there isn’t an official announcement."

Bettman did state, however, that this would be “an appetizer” of best-on-best competition the league is hoping will be established more regularly, starting with the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“The ultimate goal is to have Olympics, two years later World Cup, two years later Olympics, two years later World Cup, and that’s the cycle we’re trying to get on,” he said.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly expressed optimism NHLers would be participating in the upcoming Milano Cortina Games.

Their return to the Olympics, after skipping the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 and not participating for the first time in five cycles, was originally set for Beijing in 2022. But the pandemic’s effect on the NHL schedule forced the league to exercise its opt-out clause then.

Still, agreements with the International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation to cover travel costs, insurance for players and expenses for them and their guests were secured, and there’s optimism they can be secured once again this time around.

One potential snag to participation Bettman mentioned was the delay in the arena construction project in Milan. 

“They’re projecting that it won’t be done until the fourth quarter of 2025, which is like six or eight weeks before the Olympics, if they’re on time,” he said. 

And Daly said that if they aren’t on time, there would be concern over where the Olympic hockey tournament would be held. 

“Yeah, the question is whether it’s going to be in Milan or not,” Daly said, “and that’s a concern, for sure.” 

“I would imagine that’s a concern for the players, as well,” he added. “Going to the Olympics but not participating in the Olympic experience is a problem, I would think.”

But Daly categorized ongoing talks with the governing bodies as “productive” and said they’d continue next week.

There was no date advanced for an official announcement on the 2025 in-season tournament between Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden on Tuesday, but, as Canadiens owner Geoff Molson put it, “Plans are firming up.”

It’s something the hockey world has an insatiable appetite for — especially the prospect of seeing generations of great players bridged in the type of competition we haven’t seen since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey — and it’s thankfully on the horizon.

Crosby, who served as Canada’s captain in 2016, will turn 37 in August and is proving this season that he’s still among Canada’s best players. He leads the Pittsburgh Penguins with 15 goals and 26 points in 24 games and the idea of him maintaining that level for at least another year is anything but farfetched. 

To think Crosby could be skating alongside the game’s youngest superstar in Bedard, and its most prominent one in McDavid — not only at next year’s in-season tournament but also at the 2026 Games — is tantalizing.

It was baked into the last collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA that the NHL would send its players to Beijing in 2022 and Milan in 2026. COVID-19 got in the way a year ago, but there’s significant hope nothing will prohibit participation in two years.

The players want to be there, and fans want to see them there.

The league shutting down for three weeks, with several revenue streams grinding to a halt and no new ones — such as merchandising/advertising opportunities with NHL logos featured or the ability to use Olympic highlights on the NHL Network or NHL.com — available to be exploited certainly doesn’t benefit the owners.

But some of them appear to have no issue with that.

“I’ve always had the perspective that I support the players going to the Olympics,” said Molson. “It’s a good thing for their development, but it’s also an opportunity to represent their country. And there’s a lot of pride in that. It’s the biggest stage in the world, and it’s fun to see.”

Bettman said the league is in the process of finalizing plans to hold the upcoming draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and he expressed confidence that process will wrap in short order.

“I think it’ll be pretty dramatic,” he said. “It’ll be the first sporting event in the Sphere, and I think it’ll be a pretty well-viewed event both in terms of the draft itself and the viral use of the Sphere inside and outside using the globe. We think it’ll be fun, we think it’ll be dramatic and compelling.”

Bettman also confirmed it’ll be the last time in the foreseeable future that teams are physically in attendance, with the decentralized version of the event beginning in 2025.

“The draft is still going to be a big deal,” said Bettman. “Families are going to be there, prospects are going to be there, you’re all (the media) going to be there… They were all more comfortable in their home environments.”

Regarding possible expansion, Bettman said it wasn’t a topic of conversation at these BoG meetings but reiterated the league continues to receive interest from parties in Houston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Quebec City.

Bettman wouldn’t qualify how realistic expansion to any of those markets would be, nor did he mention the possibility of a team relocating to any of them.

But questions remain as to whether or not the Coyotes can continue playing in Arizona long-term, with no new arena project officialized and the team currently playing at Mullett Arena — a college rink with a 5,000-patron capacity.

“They’re working on it,” said Bettman. “I think there was speculation that they’re looking at a particular piece of property, and they’re looking in the next few weeks to get it finalized and they understand that it’s important for it to get finalized in time for us to do next season’s schedule.”

When asked if that’s the only consideration in the timeline for the Coyotes to get a new location for an arena confirmed, Bettman responded, “I think at the end of the day we’re going to need some predictability as to where this is all going, and Arizona’s pretty comfortable they can get it done.”

As for when the Coyotes would need to have an answer, Bettman said it would be between the next few weeks to two months.

If a new arena project is approved, the Coyotes will play their games at Mullett next season. 

“That’s the only place they can really play,” Bettman said before adding, “in Arizona.”

He wouldn’t comment on whether or not this new prospective land deal would be the team’s final chance to secure its future in the state.

If it falls through, though, relocation will become much more of a front-burner topic. 

As we reported Monday, there are over two billion reasons for expansion to become more relevant in the near future as well.

- On the ongoing investigation into the 2018 Canadian World Junior team, Bettman said, “The process is continuing and we’re trying to bring it to a conclusion.”

“It’s complicated,” he added. “It hasn’t been easy for a whole host of reasons, but we’re continuing to progress on the process.”

- On Corey Perry having his contract terminated by the Chicago Blackhawks last week, Bettman was asked if he’d have to approve the player’s return with another team and said that has not yet been determined.

- On the mandating of neck protection in the wake of former NHLer Adam Johnson dying as a result of having suffered a severe laceration in an October game in the British Elite Ice Hockey League, Bettman said discussions continue with members of the NHLPA.

“We don’t mandate equipment standards without the blessing and agreement of the Players’ Association,” he said. “At some point maybe it’ll be mandatory."

“With all the work we’re doing together,” Bettman added, “I think, ultimately, we may get there.”

- On the NHL’s policy regarding specialty jerseys and goaltender masks supporting various social causes, Bettman said there’s no appetite to make any changes. 

While the league reversed its Pride Tape ban in October, after Coyotes player Travis Dermott broke it by using the tape on his sticks as he always has, it will continue to prohibit players from wearing specialty jerseys, masks, stickers or decals for theme nights.

“There was a reason for the policy,” said Daly to defend its adoption following public outrage over a handful of players refusing to wear Pride-themed jerseys on team Pride nights last season. 

“We don’t want to put our players in a situation where they’re asked to support things they don’t necessarily want to support,” Daly added. “That was really the rationale behind the policy.”

He didn’t close the door on making exceptions, however.

“We’ve made exceptions and changes along the way,” Daly said, “and my guess is we’ll continue to do that.”