In America, they cannot live without Russia and even postponed the World Cup! The NHL values ​​Ovechkin and our other stars too much

Dmitry YerykalovThe new estimated date is February 2025. “Over the past year, the NHL and the League Hockey Players Union (NHLPA) have been working on plans for the next World Cup in February 2024, the premier international hockey tournament of the best against the best. Unfortunately, under the current conditions it is impossible to hold the World Cup at that time. We will continue planning for the next World Cup – hopefully in February 2025, ”such a message appeared on Friday on the official website of the NHL. The NHL postponed the World Cup a little over a year ahead of its originally scheduled date. In a press release, the league does not name the reasons for the postponement, and reports the next date very carefully. February 2025 is a landmark, but not an end point. “Hopefully” is the key word here that any hockey fan can subscribe to. But what is the reason for this transfer? “I spoke to other people today, and I think other stakeholders have also spoken about it. The bottom line is that there are still unresolved issues with the IIHF, and of course the conversations of Bill Daly and Gary Bettman last week – what to do with Russia? There are other countries that do not want Russia to participate in this tournament because of the situation in Ukraine. This is a really tough issue for the NHL and the union, so we’ll see where it goes. But the idea of ​​postponing the World Cup is more relevant to me now than a month ago,” wrote Canadian insider Pierre Lebrun at the end of October. In recent months, Russia has remained a stumbling block for the NHL. While the venue for the World Cup was also uncertain, the choice between Toronto, New York, and Las Vegas is a pleasant chore, while the absence of Ovechkin and Co. is a huge and almost unsolvable problem. During these six months, various assumptions have been voiced. Starting with the participation of Russians under a neutral flag, ending with the game of Russian stars as part of a unified European team. Of course, there were calls not to allow any of our players. However, the NHL bosses reacted extremely cautiously to this. “Of course, we would like it, and I think our Russian players would like it. Therefore, we certainly would like to coordinate them in some reliable way,” Bill Daly said in September. “In the current situation, Russia would not be among the participants in the World Cup. We know that there are difficulties in this matter. At the moment, I don’t see Russia playing in the tournament, but a lot can change by then, ”and here is his own quote in October. The NHL could not ignore the opinion of other countries when making a decision. If the league unilaterally decided to hold the World Cup in 2024 with the participation of Russia, it could run into not just protests, but also refusals. Trying to save Ovechkin, Panarin and Vasilevsky for the super tournament, the NHL risked missing the Czechs or Finns. That is, an unambiguous choice of one side or another would inevitably lead to the loss of at least one strong team, which means a whole scattering of stars that would not bring profit to Bettemen and Co. An organization that carefully counts money could not do this. Obviously, the NHL hopes for a speedy resolution of the situation in Ukraine. More than two years – is it a lot or a little? Is there enough backlash to solve all the problems not only with the organization of the tournament, but also with the attitude of other countries towards Russia? No one can say for sure about this now. That’s exactly what hope is. Extension of uncertainty for one more year. Someone will even say that this is a cowardly act of the NHL, which does not dare to take responsibility and does not want to take unpopular steps. But from the point of view of hockey, this is the only right thing to do. If, in a similar situation, the Olympic Games or the World Cup would be postponed, we would be rather surprised. At least because neither one nor the other tournament is about commerce. And the hockey tournament at the Olympics is one of the disciplines that cannot be taken out of context. But there is one more difference. If such a concept as the “Olympic cycle” has been unchanged for decades, and the World Cup was canceled only because of covid, then the World Cup is an event that is as unstable as possible. 1996, 2004, 2016 – these dates have absolutely no logic. So the current postponement for one year does not get out of this canvas. It is definitely better than the 12 years gap between the second and third World Cup. We are ready to wait.