The 4 Nations Face-Off was a big hit for the NHL and NHLPA. It may even increase interest in international ice hockey for the men’s game. This post explains that the IIHF World Championships are coming and they will be colder than the 4 Nations. Plus an explanation about why Russia is not involved.
The 4 Nations Face-Off did not garner widespread excitement or a ton of care throughout the world of hockey fandom. I had to put in a statement about how anyone complaining about they do not care about the tourney should just not comment because I did not want to clean up tens of comments essentially saying “Meh.” Then the puck dropped between Finland and Canada on February 12 and the script flipped immediately. The pace of the game was set on ultra. NHL rinks, NHL refs, and NHL players led to NHL physicality not often seen in the international game. After hearing about “best on best” as a cliche, actually seeing it made a lot of believers in the tourney.
The tourney gained strength as it went on. The ratings were big. The attention was legitimate. The passions were stirred. Much in the sports world – not just the hockey world – pointed out how the players cared so much more in the tourney compared with other sports. (Example from Rich Eisen). Yes, Canada-US was loaded with juice but the teams went hard when it was US-Finland. The marquee events in pro sports this weekend were Canada vs. the United States on Saturday night and the NBA All-Star Game. It was a night and day difference. Many were thrilled by the hockey game while the All-Star Game was apparently a dreary experience of constant commercials and constant Kevin Hart commentary on the PA system. No, it is not as if the NHL is going to just now take over the NBA in popularity for good; but the weekend highlighted how different the two leagues can handle marquee events. The NHL and the NHLPA can and should claim a big win.
What is more is that this is not going to be a one-off. The NHL and NHLPA announced at the start of the tourney that the World Cup of Hockey will return in 2028. There will be 8 nations, no gimmick teams like Team North America (a U-23 team) or Team Europe (a combination of European players whose nations could not fill out a NHL roster with NHL players alone), and there is an intent to make it a regular occurrence in between Olympic years. It remains to be seen how other countries will fill out rosters as they may not have 23 NHL players and national federations may want to include some non-NHL players, but that is a problem to sort out for 2028.
One of the effects of the 4 Nations Face-Off may be a renewed interest in international hockey. The good news is that the World Championships are set to start in April. The bad news is that it will not be anything like the 4 Nations Face-Off.
An Overview of the 2025 World Championships
The IIHF World Championships is a multi-divisional tournament. This year, they will have seven divisions of six national teams each beneath the top division where the actual World Championship is awarded. They have also decided to schedule them such that two divisions are not playing in March while the others start in April. Here is the entire list.
Division IV: Hosted in Yerevan, Armenia, playing April 13-19, 2025.
This group features the debut of Uzbekistan and Armenia’s return to the IIHF World Championships since being indefinitely suspended in 2010 for having ineligible players while under probation for ineligible players. Joining them will be Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, and, relegated from III-B in 2024, Iran.
Division III, Group B: Hosted in Queretaro, Mexico, playing April 27-May 3, 2025
Mexico has not won a game in the World Championships since 2022 and have been relegated in two straight years. They will try to get a win here. Mongolia has been promoted from last year and will want some revenge against the Philippines. North Korea will likely appear, Hong Kong will also return and hopefully without a goaltending tandem over 50 years old, and Singapore. This group was fun to watch but it was Youtube only and shot on a 240p camera from center ice in Sarajevo with no commentary. I think I was one of tens to see a group play without any quality goaltending save for the group winners.
Division III, Group A: Hosted in Istanbul, Turkey, playing April 21-27, 2025
Turkey joins Mexico as relegated teams in 2024 hosting a group. Unlike Mexico, they won a game last year. The Turks will host Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Turkmenistan, South Africa, and the promoted Bosnia and Herzegovina. When B&H won III-B last year, their top goalie announced his retirement from the international game. Good luck to them.
Division II, Group B: Hosted in Dunedin, New Zealand, playing April 27-May 3, 2025
The Kiwis are hosting a rather motely group. Thailand swept III-A last year in Bishkek and will look to rise up in Southeast Asian hockey. Iceland was knocked down to this level last year and will want to try to claw their way back up. Georgia, Chinese Taipei Taiwan, and Bulgaria round out the group.
Division II, Group A: Hosted in Belgrade, Serbia, playing April 29-May 5, 2025
This tournament was originally going to be in Melbourne, Australia. But the Aussies pulled out at the possibility of hosting a sporting event with Israel in it. They claim “safety concerns.” Given that these tournaments are not exactly ticket-sellers (last year’s largest attendance in Belgrade for II-A was 800 people. Most games had attendance fewer than 50 people), I am not convinced that Australia just did not want to put any effort in being a proper host. I hope Israel beats Australia by 10 when they play in Serbia – who is hosting this group for the second straight year. Credit to the Serbia federation. The group itself should be fascinating. United Arab Emirates continues to re-patriate players to play for their team and they remain in this group as a result. Belgium and the Netherlands, who was relegated from I-B last year, are kind of just here too.
Division I, Group B: Hosted in Tallinn, Estonia, playing April 26-May 02, 2025
Estonia will get to host a group featuring Dainius Zubrus’ Lithuania team, a promoted Croatian squad, a Chinese team that will not be just Kunlun Red Star from the KHL based on their 2024 WC roster, a Spanish team that managed to survive at this group last year with a 1-0 win over the Netherlands, and a South Korean roster that got knocked down to this level. This could be a fun group – if anyone can watch them?
Division I, Group A: Hosted in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania, playing April 27-May 03, 2025
Last year’s group was wild with Slovenia earning promotion while having the same number of points as Italy and Romania in the standings. Everyone in the group won at least one game, too. And outside of a Romania-South Korea game in Bolzano, every game drew at least 1,000 people. The Romanians will have a lot to do as hosts. The hockey may be interesting. Romania and Italy will have to battle with Great Britain and Poland to get back to the top division of this tournament. Japan will try to spoil someone to survive. The incoming Ukraine squad could be a threat to Japan – and may be some other teams.
The Top Division: Hosted in Herning, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden, playing May 9-25, 2025
The top division is where the World Championship is actually won and so this is usually the group referred to when the WCs are brought up. Sixteen teams, eight teams, two groups, top four in each group move on to a medal tournament, and last place in each group gets relegated to Division I, Group A.
For 2025, Group A will be in Stockholm and feature Canada, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia, Austria, France, and Slovenia. Group B will be in Herning and feature Czechia, Switzerland, United States, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Kazakhstan, and Hungary.
Czechia hosted last year’s and won it all. The tournament had extra juice with many national teams – namely, Canada and the United States – communicating that being called for this tournament and actually accepting it would help a player’s standing for future international tournaments. With the Winter Olympics in 2026 and the eventual World Cup of Hockey, we shall see whether the top nations take this approach to convince some NHL players to play after their season and/or early playoff run ends.
The Problems or Why This Tourney Will Be Colder than 4 Nations
One of the primary issues is the broadcasting. Chris touched on this in January. I agree and will reiterate. If the IIHF is not going to make it clear how anyone can watch these games – even at the lower tiers – then how can anyone care about it? Again, I was fortunate to watch a Youtube livestream of some loosey-goosey non-goaltending-friendly hockey happening in Sarajevo. But who else even knew? Did the hockey fans in those countries – the countries the IIHF is claiming to grow the game with this tournament – even know? The answer: probably not. If the IIHF is not going to care to get eyeballs on their product, then why should anyone care about their product? Say what you want about the NHL but for 4 Nations, it was either ESPN, TNT, or ABC. Maybe the game starts 15-20 minutes past the actual start time, but I know where to tune in.
And while I can credit the IIHF for not having groups play up to a month apart, I have to take that credit back because these tournaments all conflict with each other up until the top division. I understand that the IIHF sets these tourneys up to end after most hockey seasons end. But this makes it harder to keep up with what is happening. Especially as most of the hockey world will pay attention to the Stanley Cup Playoffs that will start in late April and go into June. The 4 Nations Face-Off may be crammed into February in the middle of the NHL season but it ensures that the best players are available, in form, and there is no other competing event or tourney to possibly overshadow it.
This is another huge issue with the WCs. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are far and away more compelling than 95% of the games in it. Even that may be a generous percentage. The lower divisions literally do not have talent that comes even close to those games. Sure, I can say I watched Hong Kong botch a lead to North Korea but outside of novelty, I cannot say it was anything close to what I can see at the pro level (or even the college or junior level) here in America. The Top Division is filled out nations with rosters filled with who can actually make it over to play. Even if they do well, who is going to see it and who is going to benefit? The NHL or the team cannot highlight the player’s highlights from the IIHF WCs. The national team federations are not so big that they can promote a player here or in most other nations. Some nations do treat winning the World Championship as a big deal. Those nations are not in North America. It is not like I am given much of a reason by the national federations or the IIHF to believe that the IIHF World Championship is as worthy as a prize as a Stanley Cup. Cool if America wins it, but I will gladly accept 6th and 7th place finishes for USA Hockey if it means a fourth Cup for the New Jersey Devils.
Further, the style of play is quite different and not for the better from the fan-perspective. The 4 Nations Face-Off was very much in line with what you get in the playoffs year-in, year-out at the NHL level. Obviously not with superstar-laden teams but the pace and intensity are there. That is not the case in this tournament. Between the IIHF style of refereeing (much more strict than the NHL) and the fact that these tourneys take place after a season of a grueling, physical sport, the pace and intensity are not usually anywhere near what you would see in the Stanley Cup Playoffs or even the Calder Cup Playoffs (AHL) or the Frozen Four (NCAA) or major junior hockey playoffs or even the IIHF’s own World U-18 tournament. The latter of which takes place while all of the non-Top Division groups are playing or having finished playing.
In summary, this is an annual tournament without clear broadcast information for those who want to see it, the tournament itself is not going to be anything like what the NHL and NHLPA put on, and the biggest and most important part of the group ladder is going to play during the second and third rounds of the best playoff in the world in the best hockey league in the world. And that part is not at all guaranteed to have best-on-best hockey or players who are going to play like it is. For that, you may have to wait until February 2026 for the Olympics. Emphasis on the may. If you’re lucky, you get 2010. If not, you get 2014 (you get a no-prize if you remember the 2014 Olympics because I definitely do not).
The Russian (and Belarussian) Issue Explained
One notable omission from this tourney as well as the 4 Nations Face-Off is Russia. And Belarus. But mostly Russia. It could be argued that a proper best-on-best tourney would include Russia. After all, 48 Russian skaters and 11 goalies have played in the NHL this season. They include big names like Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, and The PutinTeam Leader, Alex Ovechkin. Why have they not been involved in the NHL/NHLPA’s venture or the IIHF?
The answer is not “security concerns” as the IIHF put it in their announcement. The real answer is a boycott threat.
The IIHF is very European-based and Russia’s quagmire in Ukraine is a very real threat and concern in Europe. Not that I am a geopolitical expert, but Russia is deeply unpopular in Finland (a surge in national defense has come from it), Sweden (both Finland and Sweden joined NATO because of this, also they are hosting a group in the top division), and Czechia (Dominik Hasek going off on X about Russian hockey players and the NHL means he is not alone in that sentiment, although I am unsure of the logic of how the NHL owes anyone billions, Dom). That is three of the big four European nations in hockey and three that could basically threaten to boycott of any IIHF event – or a NHL/NHLPA event like a 4 Nations Face-Off – if Russia is involved. I would not doubt that they would go through with it and it would make the tourney far, far worse for it. To a point where it may not be even worth having. They are that important in European ice hockey.
That is at a minimum. I would expect even more countries to just walk away if Russia (and Belarus) is brought back early. Sweden and Finland may be joined by their neighbors in Denmark (hosting a top division group with Sweden) and Norway as the threat from Russia is to their region. The Baltic nations alongside Russia’s Western border surely have huge concerns about being Russia’s next target. That includes Estonia (who is hosting a WC group this year), Lithuania, and Georgia – all IIHF members and teams in this year’s WCs. It is not unreasonable to recognize that they would not like to play hockey with their national team. Poland shares a border with Belarus and I am unsure they would also want to participate if they are brought back into the fold. Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary share borders with Ukraine and I would not be surprised if they are not supportive of letting Russia and Belarus play hockey while the war continues. A World Championship without Sweden, Finland, and/or Czechia is a non-starter as it is. Should these others boycott, then it would be decimated both at the top and lower levels. And this is just countries in Eastern Europe. This is to say nothing about what other nations in Europe or abroad may decide to do in solidarity.
This is all to say that a lot of national teams want nothing to do with either Russian hockey *(or Belarussian hockey) until the war ends. IIHF President Luc Tardif even stated ahead of the meeting to decide if the two nations would be kept out of 2025-26, “We want them [Russia and Belarus] back as soon as possible. It will mean the war will be over.” The war is not over. They have been steadfast about that and they are not alone. Given how the Summer Olympics came and went in Paris without Russia, I would not doubt the Winter Olympics doing the same in 2026 if things do not change.
The NHL and NHLPA may not beholden to the IIHF’s ruling, but if they want to continue to have national team events such as the World Cup of Hockey in 2028, then they need to be on good terms with the IIHF and the national team federations they want to participate. The 4 Nations Face-Off needed, well, all four nations to take it as seriously as they did to succeed. Daring Sweden and Finland to dump it by bringing Russia into it outside of the IIHF reinstatement would be one of the worst moves the NHL or NHLPA could make for 2028. Not to mention risking other nations from not wanting to get involved. Especially as smaller nations will need some non-NHL players to fill out a 23-man roster.
And this is to say nothing about Russian hockey. Remember the Ivan Fedotov issue? One of the outputs of the ruling the IIHF put on CSKA Moscow was to make, by Russian law, the Kontential Hockey League independent of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and, by extension, independent of the IIHF. This would mean the KHL could, in theory, decline a sanction to its players and teams from the IIHF. As far as I can tell, CSKA Moscow has yet to violate their international transfer ban (unless bringing in a guy from Kunlun within their own league counts, which would be a bit silly). But this was a move made to send a message to the IIHF that they do not have to care much about their rulings. I do not know about you, but if I want the IIHF to reinstate my national team to play in their tournaments, then annoying the IIHF would be counter-productive. But that is just how they roll in Russia, I suppose. I would not be shocked if this played a minor role in the IIHF’s ruling, already knowing that several nations could drop out the second Russia is brought in whilst waging a war. If Russia hockey is not going to play nice, then the IIHF will not have them play at all.
Would Russian involvement add more quality on the ice to the World Championships and a future World Cup of Hockey? Yes, in a vacuum. But it is not going to happen until the war ends as it risks other nations dropping off, making the tournaments far worse. Simple as. And even if or when that is resolved, the issue of the broadcasting the tourney, the actual play on the ice in said tourney, and the value of the tourney is not helped by whether these teams are involved or not. I would say the IIHF can take a page from the NHL and the NHLPA to improve their own tournament, but I am not even sure they actually can. I can respect standing on business to Russia and Belarus, but at least tell me how to watch the dang games first, Luc.
Thank you for reading. The New Jersey Devils will return to action tomorrow.