“It went away because … international competition is something that the players’ association and the league do together,” Bettman explained. Have the best 184 players in the world throw their sticks to centre ice at the ACC and divvy them up. If the World Cup just invited Slovakia and Switzerland, they’d exclude Anze Kopitar and Mats Zuccarello. After the panel, I asked Bettman whether the mashup teams would become a regular feature. I have donated $50 in hopes its graduates might some day free this game from its ridiculous Madison Avenue captors.

Source: National Post September 17, 2016 03:33 UTC