World Cup, All Star Game and Mike Richards on waivers…

We are finishing a stretch of five days without any NHL regular season games, yet there has been no shortage of NHL talk, much of it grumbling.

Why are so many media people and some fans still complaining about the All Star game? It will never be a competitive game, and it shouldn’t be. Save yourself, and, more importantly, us from having to be inundated with your repeated complaints, and simply don’t watch it.

I know the game isn’t competitive. It is shinny with highly skilled players, so I choose not to watch. It sounded like Columbus did a fantastic job of hosting the event, and many kids got to see their hockey heros, which is what matters.

I won’t watch the all-start game, unless it is in Edmonton and I need to cover it, or if my young son wants to when he gets older. I just don’t understand why grown men are still complaining about the pace of play. This isn’t new, the game has been this way for the past 30 years. You can’t make it “mean something,” so just stop fretting about it and enjoy it for what it is, or simply spend don’t turn on your TV.

The NHL and NHLPA officially announced the 2016 World Cup will be played in Toronto in September of 2016. Six countries; Canada, USA, Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia and Finland will take part, as well as a European all-star team comprising of NHL players from the other European countries and North American players who are 23 and under. Born in 1993 and later.

Russia, Finland, Sweden and Czech Republic will be allowed to use a few players who are currently playing in the KHL, like Ilya Kovalchuk, so this allows for the best of the best.

In my opinion, the Euro All-stars and NA U24 team will be more competitive than Germany, Slovakia, or any of the other countries would have been.

The Euro All stars will have the likes of Anze Kopitar, Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik, Tomas Tatar, Frans Nielsen, Zdeno Chara, Roman Josi, Dennis Seidenberg, Christian Ehrhoff, Jaroslav Halak and others.

The U24 will have: Nathan MacKinnon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Brandon Saad, Johnny Gaudreau, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Ryan Strome, Mark Scheifele, Sean Monahan, Alex Galchenyuk, Aaron Ekblad, Dougie Hamilton, Jacob Trouba, Morgan Reilly, Seth Jones and others. John Gibson will likely be the starting goalie.

They won’t win the tournament, but I’d rather watch them than see Canada crush Norway or Denmark.

Gary Bettman made it seem like the U24 and Euro All-star team likely wouldn’t be around in 2020, because they will have to play in a tournament amongst European countries to qualify. If this Euro team is competitive I’d rather keep them.

Some have complained that Canada won’t be able to ice their best team because McDavid, MacKinnon and others aren’t eligible, but will McDavid be better than Claude Giroux next season? Giroux didn’t even make the Olympic team last year. Tyler Seguin didn’t either and Steven Stamkos was injured, so I’d be stunned if McDavid is one of the top 13 or 14 forwards in Canada by next summer.

I’m excited for this tournament, especially because the final is a best of three. I’d love to see another Canada/Russia or Canada/USA best of three, but regardless of which two teams make the final, I’m certain that three-game series will be outstanding hockey.

I like that this format is different than the Olympics, especially because it is played on NHL-sized ice. The Sochi Olympics didn’t showcase the best hockey we’ve ever seen. Our patriotic pride made it seem great, because Canada dominated, especially defensively, but as a fan of offence, the games were far from the best I’ve witnessed.

The LA Kings put Richards on waivers today. I was told the Oilers will not be putting in a claim. 

Should they?

I can see an argument for both sides. Richards would get significantly more offensive opportunities with the Oilers than he does in LA. Last year in LA, he was 4th in team scoring. 

The concern is his contract. The Oilers don’t have much cap space to add his $5.75 mill cap hit. A trade would allow them to send some salary back to LA, but I don’t see Richards wanting to come here regardless.

Richards won’t be coming here through waivers or via a trade.

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