Four nations tournament a step in the right direction for NHL’s return to international hockey
Tyler Yaremchuk: News of best on best hockey returns. The NHL has plans for a best-on-best tournament in 2025, give me the details on that Frank.
Frank Seravalli: Yeah, so we believe it’s called the Four Nations tournament, not 100% sure on the name yet. But this has been in the works for a very long time. So next season, no All-Star weekend and we’re going to have a four-team tournament and I believe it’s going to be held in Montreal and Boston. It seems like the response I got is that maybe it’s a touch premature for those locations, so they need to go through a formal process but those are the two places very likely to host the tournament. It will include four federations as the tournament name suggests, Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden.
Frank Seravalli: A lot of people are saying “Why not Russia?” Well, they have an ongoing war with Ukraine and because of that and the geopolitical sensitivity that belongs with that, my understanding is that Finland and Sweden both have said to the NHL and NHLPA if Russia is participating then we are not. Then you’re adding one nation and taking out two and there’s no real way to do it and make everyone feel good. It’s tough for the other nations too Ike Czechia, Slovakia, Germany you know if it’s hosted in Boston and no David Pastrnak then that’s tough. I think this is the best solution for what the NHL hopes is a temporary problem.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I’m disappointed it’s cut off at four teams. I get the Russian factor but if you look at the NHL top 10 scorers and who wouldn’t be in this tournament, I struggle to call it best on best.
Frank Seravalli: It’s not best on best. Without Russia, it can’t be best on best. So what we’re looking at is the 2026 Olympics, that’s the next best on the best tournament. And the fact we’ve gone from 2014 all the way to 2026 without true best-on-best international hockey is the biggest stain on Gary Bettman’s resume. It’s the fact we went the first half of Connor McDavid’s career and didn’t get to see him play for Team Canada and that’s insane.