While most of the CBA negotiations will revolve around revenue sharing between the players and owners, there will be other topics put on the table; Olympic Participation, a World Cup schedule and more will be hammered out as well.

I’d be interested to see one other international connection made during these talks. Not only should a solid transfer system be worked out between the NHL and KHL, I think some sort of Challenge Cup competition should be developed as well.

The Victoria Cup was an interesting development and certainly a step in the right direction. However, the execution wasn’t ideal and the failure of the Champions Hockey League added to the difficultly in formatting. Taking some elements from the Champions League and Victoria Cup would be a good starting point for creating an effective replacement.

First off, the Champions Hockey League was a brilliant idea and it is a shame it had to fold. Combining Europe’s elite leagues into one massive tournament – just like FIFA does – created a unique product. I would assume it just didn’t have enough time to get legs.

Having the Champions League winner play the Stanley Cup Champion for the Victoria Cup was also an obvious step in the right direction. However, forcing the Stanley Cup champs to start the season in Europe was a mistake. This creates problem number one, even rotating the hosts will royally piss off one of the two clubs participating each season. However, it does create the first obvious solution; the NHL’s top club should be playing Europe’s top club for this trophy.

Perhaps scaling this competition back to just the NHL and KHL would be the first logical step towards a solution. This way the world’s two top leagues – in terms of talent – would be putting their best teams on display against each other. Continue reading →