MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Speculating about Russia potentially taking part in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey is premature, Deputy Commissioner of the US-based National Hockey League (NHL) Bill Daly told TASS on Tuesday.
TSN journalist Darren Drager reported earlier that the NHL and the league's players' union intended to organize the World Cup of Hockey in 2028 without the participation of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The NHL and the league's players' union are going to make an announcement about the World Cup of Hockey during the upcoming Four Nations tournament, which is scheduled to run between February 12 and 20 in Canada’s Montreal and US Boston.
"Too early to say with respect to Russian participation," Daly said in response to a TASS correspondent whether Russia would be represented at the 2028 World Cup of Hockey in the wake of the recent news.
The previous World Cup of Hockey was held in 2016 in Toronto, Canada. The teams of Russia, Canada, the US, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic as well as Team Europe and Team North America (which represented players aged 23-and-under) took part in it. Team Canada won the championship, while Team Russia made it to the semifinals. The tournaments were also held in 1996 and 2004.
The World Cup of Hockey is an international successor to the previously famous Canada Cup (held between 1976 and 1991). After the international event was inaugurated in 1996, it was staged only once again in 2004.
The World Cup of Hockey was organized by the NHL and therefore it was played according to the league’s rules unlike the annual Ice Hockey World Championships and the quadrennial Winter Olympic hockey tournaments, which are sanctioned by the IIHF and are played according to different rules.
The matches of the World Cup of Hockey are played outside the NHL regular season allowing the league’s best players to compete in the international event unlike the annual World Championships, which usually overlap with NHL’s playoffs.