NBA announces In-Season Tournament (Nov-Dec 2023): Could this work in the NHL?

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

To those completely out of the loop, this is a thing in almost every soccer league around the world (ie. FA Cup, Copa del Rey, Coppa Italia etc).  Adam Silver is at it again, and now he's announced an in-season tournament that'll play out over a two month period.  Here's a pretty good video by RJ that sums it up:

 

 

So what do people here think about the NHL adopting some kind of tournament like this?  I think it could work over time, although players probably won't take it seriously at first.

[Alflives]

100% think the idea is silly. 

[250Integra]

Hey maybe the Canucks can finally win something…

 

[Odd.]

 

[Ghostsof1915]

Just what our players need, another useless tourney so they can be injured during the regular season. No thanks.

I know Champions league, FA Cup is a big deal. And other various cups in Europe. We have a Stanley Cup to play for every spring.

Let's let hockey stay what's it's good at.

I'm not even happy with the way the goofy World Cup of Hockey was done last time. I'm ok with just the Winter Olympics every 4 years.

[shiznak]

So, what’s the purpose of this tournament? Do these games count toward the regular season standing?

 

Seems stupid and pointless. Just imagine Jokic getting injured with a ACL tear, in this tournament and he’s out for the rest of the season.
 

This is nothing like the Olympics, because that actually means something to players.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

Some expected takes here, to which I might offer a counterpoint...

1 hour ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Just what our players need, another useless tourney so they can be injured during the regular season. No thanks.

I know Champions league, FA Cup is a big deal. And other various cups in Europe. We have a Stanley Cup to play for every spring.

Let's let hockey stay what's it's good at.

I'm not even happy with the way the goofy World Cup of Hockey was done last time. I'm ok with just the Winter Olympics every 4 years.

Soccer teams in Europe have multiple competitions going on at the same time, and this is the NBA's first attempt at that format.

 

What's hockey good at?  Viewership is massively down across the board.  Social media engagement is up, which is a plus.  A tournament is another opportunity to bring casual fans back to the game.

 

The last two Winter Olympics have been a joke.  2018 no NHL players.  2022 no NHL players, and not even Russia participating.  Did anyone even watch the men's version of these competitions?  I don't know what to expect for Milan 2026.  Italy is not a hockey nation, and time difference is brutal.  And of course, Russia problems.

1 hour ago, shiznak said:

So, what’s the purpose of this tournament? Do these games count toward the regular season standing?

 

Seems stupid and pointless. Just imagine Jokic getting injured with a ACL tear, in this tournament and he’s out for the rest of the season.
 

This is nothing like the Olympics, because that actually means something to players.

I am very surprised to hear this from you, being such an outspoken baseball fan yourself.  Despite a couple harsh injuries, this past March produced one of the most memorable moments in baseball history.

[shiznak]

1 hour ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

 

I am very surprised to hear this from you, being such an outspoken baseball fan yourself.  Despite a couple harsh injuries, this past March produced one of the most memorable moments in baseball history.

The WBC is actually something to play for. Players want to be there to represent their country, just like the Olympics.

 

This is a nothing tournament, with no real value. Although, I actually read these games actually count towards the standings and there is a prize pool for the winning team. Nonetheless, I think this thing is just a marketing gimmick. 
 

They literally just re-align the divisions into groups, put together some random games in November-December, and called it a tournament, where the winner gets a consolation prize. 

[DrJockitch]

The initial rounds count in standings. The semi and finals don’t. 
Each winning player get $500k.
 Kind of feels like cheering for the rich to get richer since the tourney is otherwise meaningless. 

[HorvatToBaertschi]

3 hours ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

Some expected takes here, to which I might offer a counterpoint...

Soccer teams in Europe have multiple competitions going on at the same time, and this is the NBA's first attempt at that format.

 

What's hockey good at?  Viewership is massively down across the board.  Social media engagement is up, which is a plus.  A tournament is another opportunity to bring casual fans back to the game.

 

The last two Winter Olympics have been a joke.  2018 no NHL players.  2022 no NHL players, and not even Russia participating.  Did anyone even watch the men's version of these competitions?  I don't know what to expect for Milan 2026.  Italy is not a hockey nation, and time difference is brutal.  And of course, Russia problems.

I am very surprised to hear this from you, being such an outspoken baseball fan yourself.  Despite a couple harsh injuries, this past March produced one of the most memorable moments in baseball history.

Which has been a massive factor in injuries. Also, the only competitions that players care to play for are European ones (UCL and UEL), which can't be replicated in a format where there's only 1 professional league. You already have the best players in the world playing for a trophy in the NBA (and NHL) alone. That's what's so great about the Champions League, if it wasn't for this extra tournament, players like C. Ronaldo or Messi would never play against Lewandowski, Neuer, Mbappe etc... 

 

This does nothing for american sports. 

[TheQuietQuitter]

With the NBA having issues with teams allowing all these maintenance days to their stars, I can see how assignment specific regular season games as "Tournament Games" with massive cash prizes could be an incentive to have all these diva super stars actually play for their team.

 

As for the NHL, an In-Season tournament game would probably be more interesting than the All Star Game.  Maybe stack the majority of games for after the All Star break as a way to dissuade teams from tanking?

 

I'd like to see an In-Season Tournament amongst Canadian teams.  Maybe designated 2 games per team that counts towards both standings.  So pretty much every game against Ott, Tor, Mtl are tournament games. 

 

I dont know, just a thought.

[nuckin_futz]

So there's an in-season tournament and then there's the regular playoffs? This seems like having the playoffs twice. So who's the champion?

 

Do you hold a parade and get a banner and rings for being an in-season champion?

 

This seems confusing, unnecessary and silly. 

[HorvatToBaertschi]

20 minutes ago, nuckin_futz said:

So there's an in-season tournament and then there's the regular playoffs? This seems like having the playoffs twice. So who's the champion?

 

Do you hold a parade and get a banner and rings for being an in-season champion?

 

This seems confusing, unnecessary and silly. 

European football has a championship match every year between the winner of the league and the domestic cup. It's not the most coveted trophy, but still a trophy nevertheless

[Master Mind]

Gimmicky garbage.

 

Hope the NHL never considers this.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

2 hours ago, shiznak said:

The WBC is actually something to play for. Players want to be there to represent their country, just like the Olympics.

 

This is a nothing tournament, with no real value. Although, I actually read these games actually count towards the standings and there is a prize pool for the winning team. Nonetheless, I think this thing is just a marketing gimmick. 
 

They literally just re-align the divisions into groups, put together some random games in November-December, and called it a tournament, where the winner gets a consolation prize. 

The WBC also had randomized divisions this year.  Some of the team rosters were also HEAVILY American.  Eligibility was all over the place.  Look at Italy or Israel's rosters - even Mexico!  Nothing wrong with this - but national pride ringed truer for a Korea-Japan game than an Italy-Israel game.

 

What it did do is create some very entertaining games across the tournament, regardless of what the roster makeup consisted of.  People who don't even watch baseball tuned in to watch because of how fun it was.

 

 

56 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

Which has been a massive factor in injuries. Also, the only competitions that players care to play for are European ones (UCL and UEL), which can't be replicated in a format where there's only 1 professional league. You already have the best players in the world playing for a trophy in the NBA (and NHL) alone. That's what's so great about the Champions League, if it wasn't for this extra tournament, players like C. Ronaldo or Messi would never play against Lewandowski, Neuer, Mbappe etc... 

 

This does nothing for american sports. 

A key argument against this tournament is that there simply aren't enough teams to justify an additional competition.  As an example, two of the Texas teams are playing each other in one group.  That doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

 

No doubt it's an attempt by Silver (who has been a very change-friendly commissioner) to use a gimmick to get casuals to watch games in November.  As long as the players show up and play hard, it could work.

54 minutes ago, TheQuietQuitter said:

With the NBA having issues with teams allowing all these maintenance days to their stars, I can see how assignment specific regular season games as "Tournament Games" with massive cash prizes could be an incentive to have all these diva super stars actually play for their team.

 

As for the NHL, an In-Season tournament game would probably be more interesting than the All Star Game.  Maybe stack the majority of games for after the All Star break as a way to dissuade teams from tanking?

 

I'd like to see an In-Season Tournament amongst Canadian teams.  Maybe designated 2 games per team that counts towards both standings.  So pretty much every game against Ott, Tor, Mtl are tournament games. 

 

I dont know, just a thought.

If there were concerns about injuries, stacking the games near the end of the season wouldn't help much.

 

What you're suggesting for Canadian teams sounds a little like the Cascadia Cup.  There are no extra games and they don't have any extra bearing on anything, but it's a fun little trophy for the 3 teams involved.  I'm not sure how it would work with 7 teams across different divisions, though.

[thrago]

It is a little gimmicky but, if they did in-season games and then replaced the all-star game with the final game of this I think I'd be more inclined to watch vs the All-star game which I haven't watched nor do I care too in 25 plus years.

[HorvatToBaertschi]

10 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

The WBC also had randomized divisions this year.  Some of the team rosters were also HEAVILY American.  Eligibility was all over the place.  Look at Italy or Israel's rosters - even Mexico!  Nothing wrong with this - but national pride ringed truer for a Korea-Japan game than an Italy-Israel game.

 

What it did do is create some very entertaining games across the tournament, regardless of what the roster makeup consisted of.  People who don't even watch baseball tuned in to watch because of how fun it was.

 

 

A key argument against this tournament is that there simply aren't enough teams to justify an additional competition.  As an example, two of the Texas teams are playing each other in one group.  That doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

 

No doubt it's an attempt by Silver (who has been a very change-friendly commissioner) to use a gimmick to get casuals to watch games in November.  As long as the players show up and play hard, it could work.

If there were concerns about injuries, stacking the games near the end of the season wouldn't help much.

 

What you're suggesting for Canadian teams sounds a little like the Cascadia Cup.  There are no extra games and they don't have any extra bearing on anything, but it's a fun little trophy for the 3 teams involved.  I'm not sure how it would work with 7 teams across different divisions, though.

A league where superstars sit 10-15 games a season, are adding another tournament... yeah, the players will definitely show up and play hard... They can't even show up in their contract-mandated 82 game seasons. 

[TheQuietQuitter]

1 hour ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

What you're suggesting for Canadian teams sounds a little like the Cascadia Cup.  There are no extra games and they don't have any extra bearing on anything, but it's a fun little trophy for the 3 teams involved.  I'm not sure how it would work with 7 teams across different divisions, though.

The best way I can think of would be to designate a home and away game versus each Canadian teams as a "Cascadia" game.

So all eastern conference games would technically be "Cascadia" games.

 

All the teams would play 12 designated games and the winner is determined by points.

 

The winning team gets a tax break.. or added cap space.. or a free buyout. 

 

Anyways, back to reality... would be fun for the Canadian markets.  I just don't see the league catering to Canada anytime soon.

[Bounce000]

This is almost as stupid as team North America in the World Cup of Hockey, which means I can totally picture the NHL doing this as a cash grab.

[Alflives]

Soccer is stupid. Keep it out of our game.