World Cup of Hockey won't include Team North America or Team Europe

The next World Cup of Hockey will not feature any untraditional squads.

Team North America and Team Europe won't be part of the planned tournament for 2024, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Tuesday, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

The forthcoming event will return to its previous format, which includes only teams representing specific countries.

The 2016 tourney was made up of eight teams including the North America and Europe sides. The former was made up of Canadian and American players who were 23 years old and under. The latter comprised players from European countries not including Czechia (then known as the Czech Republic), Finland, Russia, and Sweden, all of which had their own entries in the event.

Team Europe - led by Anze Kopitar and Leon Draisaitl along with head coach Ralph Krueger - made an improbable run to the final before Canada claimed the title in two games during the best-of-three championship round.

Team North America featured young superstars Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, and Johnny Gaudreau. That squad failed to qualify for the knockout stage and finished fifth in the tournament.

The NHL initially mulled having another World Cup of Hockey in February 2021 but called off that plan in December 2019.

It was reported in February of this year that the NHL and NHLPA had already met to start planning an event for the same month in 2024.

The next World Cup of Hockey would be the fourth edition after 1996, 2004, and 2016. The United States won the original tourney, and Canada won the other two.

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