World Cup Breakdown: Pro's and Con's

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The World Cup the new Olympics of hockey? Many people may be questioning if this statement is in fact true, or is it just another publicity stunt by the league. It’s a little of both actually. With the recent rosters for all the World Cup teams put out, I’ve been on an analytical kick about the pros and the cons of the World Cup and what exactly this could mean for the sport as a whole. So without further ado let's break it down to the essentials.

Pro's

-Gives younger players a chance to play on a large stage.

-More hockey, Who doesn't love more hockey

-The NHL gets a little more publicity.

-The tournament is collaboration between the NHL and IIHF. A collection and collaboration that is nice to see. The two organizations have butted heads in the past.

-More Ice time: The more time the players have playing on the ice the quicker they’ll pick up the skills and be ready to roll for the NHL regular season.

-More fans could be drawn into the sport helping to encourage a greater understanding of the sport.

-It could encourage unity between players in the league. Maybe even put some ice on rifts between certain players.

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Con's

-This could be considered attempting to cut into the Olympic hockey hype.

-The NHL gets more attention, not all publicity is good publicity.

-Risk of preseason injuries. There is enough risk of this in regular NHL preseason games let alone in a tournament style set up like the World Cup is.

-Switching one coaching style to another. This isn't a huge issue however; it could be an issue for the player. To suddenly switch from one style to another could be a bit sticky.

-Burnout. Consider the Olympics and the regular season, plus the World Cup are all within six months of each other. This will make burnout for players much more possible than it would be without the World Cup.

-Ice size. Now normally this wouldn’t be a problem but there are a few key differences between ice size in the NHL and Olympic ice. One being the attack zone is increased in the NHL in comparison to Olympic ice.

-This could affect the player's ability and timing skills.

-Team dynamic: Normally it takes a little bit of time to get the dynamic back with your NHL teammates.

-The World cup cuts into this and thus could affect the dynamic of teams.

Which is more valuable? In my opinion it's a toss-up, yes in a way the World cup is a good thing it could bring more fans into the league. However it could also be a bad thing. Players could get seriously injured and if teams star players get hurt it this were to occur than those teams who they play for would be at a disadvantage to start the season off, something no one wants to see. However you sum it up there are positives and negatives to the World Cup it’s really just a matter of perspective.