from Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated,

Swirling rumors suggest that we're just days away from the official announcement of the next World Cup of Hockey and it appears the early talk about the tournament set-up is true. The eight-team event will reportedly feature entries from Canada, the United States, Russia, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, with two “at-large” clubs rounding out the field. The first will be made up of young stars from around the NHL while the second will be comprised of top players from countries that are not sending their national teams.

Nothing wrong with tossing around new ideas, but it is hard to believe that either of these stuck. Both pose obvious problems.

Take the young stars plan: Will national teams be allowed to claim a player who falls under the age limit if he's one of their best? Does a 20-year-old such as Filip Forsberg suit up for Sweden or the young stars? What about 22-year-old Gabe Landeskog? If skaters of their caliber are kept from the national team, then the World Cup risks losing any claim to being a best-on-best tournament.

And what about Team Potpourri? Sure, it offers a chance for players from lesser national sides like Anze Kopitar (Slovenia) or Mats Zuccarello (Norway) to take part, but has anyone asked the guys who'd have to suit up for this polyglot if they even want to?

“I don't know all the details, but I don't know how excited I am about it,” one NHL player told SI.com recently. “You want to represent your country [in an event like this], not just play on a team.”

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