from Kevin Allen of USA TODAY,

Nothing has been finalized, and we are being told there are still several issues to be settled, but the NHL and NHL Players' Association are discussing a World Cup tournament field that would include USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, plus a European All-Star team made up of players from other countries and a team made up of top young players from North America....

This plan would allow us to see Slovenia's Anze Kopitar, Switzerland's Roman Josi, Austria's Thomas Vanek, Norway's Mats Zuccarello, Germany's Christian Ehrhoff and a legion of Slovaks led by Zdeno Chara.

Out-of-the-box thinking is also how we landed on the idea of patching together a team of rising young stars to compete as the eighth team. Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon probably won't make the Canadian team, but he will be the No. 1 center on this team. Florida's Aaron Ekblad could be the top defenseman and Anaheim's John Gibson could be in net.

It's a creative plan to be sure, but would it make the World Cup a better tournament?

Of course not.

The public's love for country vs. country competition is well-established. Could you imagine soccer's World Cup embracing this idea?

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