The second man of the NHL praised Prague’s O2 Arena and spoke about the World Cup: Will we see Russia there? – Športky.sk

Bill Daly Source: Profimedia PRAGUE – NHL games in Prague should also be played in the coming years. Gary Bettman’s assistant commissioner, Bill Daly, made the announcement at a press conference at the O2 Arena before the opener between Nashville and San Jose. Daly praised the Czech metropolis and the largest hall in the country as an organizer. The new NHL season will start today and Saturday in Prague with two games between the Predators and the Sharks, and it will start overseas on Tuesday. The elite competition is being played in the Czech capital for the fourth time after 2008, 2010 and 2019. 02 arena with NHL parameters “The last time we were in Europe was in 2019, including Prague. The fact that we returned here with the first games of the season shows how much we appreciate Prague as a host city and the O2 arena, which is a hall of NHL parameters. There is a great passion for hockey, which has a lot of support here, which is very attractive for us. I definitely expect that we will continue to bring NHL games to Prague,” said Daly . “We’re excited to be back in Europe. It’s been three years since we last played here. We’re excited to be back in Prague. It’s a beautiful city with warm people, we love coming back,” said Daly. According to him, the NHL games in Europe next season have not yet been decided. In addition to Prague, this season, two meetings of the regular part of the NHL will also take place in November in Tampere, where the reigning Stanley Cup winner Colorado will meet Columbus. San Jose, represented by the Czechs Tomáš Hertl and Radim Šimek, presented themselves in the general round in Berlin against Eisbären before the sharp start of the season. Nashville again played in Bern against the local SC. Daly does not expect the number of NHL meetings on the old continent to expand in the near future. A similar scenario in the following years “In the near future, we will maintain a similar scenario as in recent years. This does not mean that in the future, for example, we will not expand the number of teams and matches in Europe. We may also expand the time window during which it will be played. We started the season in Europe, and after some time we added the November date to it,” stated Daly. “Teams keep their schedule of the regular season, we have to work with them. But I think that over time we could bring more teams to Europe during the season. But I don’t expect it to happen soon,” commented the second highest-ranking man in the NHL. World Cup with Russia? He also spoke about the World Cup, which was last held in 2016. “This afternoon we met with the new president of the Czech Ice Hockey Association (Alois Hadamczik). It is still our intention to organize the World Cup in February 2024. We are working on the details,” he said. They gave. Due to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia would not participate in the tournament. “We wouldn’t include him if the current status quo continues in February 2024. We realize it would cause embarrassment. I don’t currently see a World Cup place for Russia, but that could change,” Daly said. Eight teams would most likely participate in the World Cup again. “I expect the same number of teams. The question is whether we would do a qualifying tournament in which we would fight for two or three places in the tournament. We are currently discussing that,” said Daly. Six years ago, in addition to the traditional representatives of Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, the USA and home Canada, the North American under-23 team and the European team also participated in the tournament in Toronto. Author: © Zoznam Source: ČTK