The details continue to emerge on the first best-on-best international hockey event since the 2016 World Cup. While fans and players aren’t euphoric over a four-team format featuring Canada, USA, Sweden, and Finland in 2025, let’s be honest — we’ll take what we can get. Since the 1972 Summit Series first teased the concept of best-on-best, the longest gap between some form of tournament — Canada Cup, World Cup, or Olympic Games featuring NHL talent — had been five years. Incredibly, it will be nine years between events when this scaled-down version hits the ice in 2025.
And you thought the Edmonton Oilers wasted Connor McDavid‘s 20s.
Despite the overwhelming appetite, the environment for international play has been disastrous for a decade. A global pandemic. Olympic host locations outside North America. Insurance concerns. Clumsy negotiations. Frosty relations between the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF. Russia’s indefensible invasion of Ukraine. It’s been a mix of misfortune and unforced errors.
Given 2025’s event will showcase a limited field and use a gimmicky format, why not use the stage to finally attempt hockey’s version of a Ryder Cup? Team North America vs. Team Europe. The greatest selling point is inclusivity of top NHL talent. Many European superstars such as Leon Draisaitl (Germany), David Pastrnak (Czechia), and Roman Josi (Switzerland) are sitting on the sidelines of the proposed tournament. With some participating nations wanting no part of a team of Russians competing under any flag, a true best-on-best was always unlikely.
So, let’s entertain an intercontinental battle royale for 2025 — the logistics, the always-controversial roster construction, and the potential pitfalls.
The Name
First, this event needs a proper name. Ryder Cup won’t cut it for a hockey tournament.
- The Jagr Cup?… [gets handed a note]… he’s still playing?! Next.
- The Bet365 Cup? Okay, gambling would officially be out of control. No sponsor names.
- The Bettman Cup? Kidding, kidding.
- The Mikita Cup? Bingo. Let’s properly celebrate one of the first international trailblazers, the late Stan Mikita, a legend both sides of the Atlantic can rally behind.
The Format
Before we get into the fun and spicy exercise of roster construction, we’ll need to iron out some basic logistics.
- What’s the right number of games? The 2014 Sochi Olympics — held mid-season — had teams potentially play seven games. Seems like a lot in a short span, with injury concerns and fatigue increasingly top of mind. Let’s call it a best-of-five series, and pray for no sweeps. Our inspiration, golf’s Ryder Cup, is only a three-day event. It’s proven to create significant drama and rivalry in a sport where wearing shorts in the summer is scandalous.
- Where is the event held? The NHL wanted to host both in North America and Europe. This seems completely impractical to mobilize players to and from Europe in just over a week. We’re going to stick to North America. We want the players prepared, fresh and the event to offer minimum disruption to the NHL schedule. Let’s host Games 1 & 2 on the West Coast (Los Angeles) and Games 3-5 (as required) in the East (Montreal).
- Which players are participating? This part should be simple. It’s an NHL event, so NHL players only. As for Russians, we’ll only identify them to show the potential of this event in the future. But from a practical perspective, we’ll present Team Europe as it would need to be played in 2025.
Here’s our summarized format:
- Team North America vs. Team Europe play for the Mikita Cup
- Best three-out-of-five series
- Tie games decided by four-on-four sudden death overtime
- Participants are NHL players only, officiated by NHL referees
- NHL legends hand out the player of the game awards and championship trophy
The Rosters
No added hype will be needed for these two teams. The collection of talent, storylines and rivalries — both between sides and within rosters — is mesmerizing. Grab a few players from the honourable mentions and you have a core for a Stanley Cup winner. Both squads would be so loaded and deep that the event would be must-watch TV.
We’ll try not to get too hung up on position, handedness, and chemistry — we’re talking about a hypothetical event scheduled 15 months away, after all. Connor Bedard might be the best player in the world by February 2025. Some of the picks will inevitably be injured or a laughable choice. The rosters also lean away from flavours of the month. Yes, Filip Hronek and Alex DeBrincat had hot starts, but one great month is only that.
Regardless how you pick your team, these rosters are deliciously wired for debate.
North America
Honourable Mentions: Forwards: Kyle Connor; J.T. Miller; Sam Reinhart; John Tavares; Tage Thompson; Jake Guentzel; Steven Stamkos; Dylan Larkin; Defencemen: Dougie Hamilton; Drew Doughty; Josh Morrissey; Brett Pesce; Goaltenders: Carter Hart; Adin Hill.
- This forward group is a fear-inducing, knee-buckling force. The “fifth” line is comprised of two 40-goal scorers and a prodigy getting exponentially better with each morning skate.
- North America’s scoring talent speaks for itself. But having the abrasive Tkachuk brothers, super-pest Marchand, and the relentless Stone adds another element.
- The four proposed blueline duos are seamlessly balanced, a king’s ransom of offensive and defensive talent. Two of the pairs have anchored the last two Cup winners.
- While goaltending is sorcery in today’s NHL, the American quartet is skilled and huge — the template of the modern netminder. The choices say a lot about the state of Canadian goaltending too — Martin Brodeur, please report to the trapezoid immediately.
- The overarching question: can Canadians and Americans co-exist? Europe’s roster is a melting pot. This roster is a collection of alpha dogs thrown together after being raised as arch rivals.
- Captain: Crosby; Coach: Jon Cooper.
Europe
Russians Left Off Original Roster: Forwards: Artemi Panarin; Nikita Kucherov; Kirill Kaprizov; Alex Ovechkin (replaced with Forsberg, Zibanejad, Fiala, Kopitar); Defencemen: Mikhail Sergachev (replaced with Ekholm); Goaltenders: Andrei Vasilevskiy; Ilya Sorokin; Igor Shesterkin (replaced with Saros, Korpisalo, Markstrom).
Honourable Mentions: Forwards: Adrian Kempe; Evgeni Malkin; Elias Lindholm; Joel Eriksson-Ek; Defencemen: Dmitry Orlov; Rasmus Andersson; Jonas Brodin.
- The omissions of Panarin, Kucherov, Kaprizov, and Ovechkin limit the scoring depth. But taking them out offers a different look — a more complete team with better potential to shut down North America’s lethal offence.
- The top six forwards are scary. The bottom nine would be no fun to play against. The forward group includes 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th in Selke voting last year.
- Europe’s defensive core offers a blend of old and new guard. Heiskanen and Dahlin could join Hedman, Karlsson, and Josi as future Norris winners.
- The Russian ban removes arguably the top three goaltenders in the world in Vasilevskiy, Sorokin and Shesterkin. Reigning Vezina winner Ullmark and recent finalist Saros are highly capable consolation prizes.
- Apologies for cutting the iconic and underappreciated Malkin, but he will be approaching his 39th birthday by 2025 and this would be the fastest hockey ever played. Ovechkin was on the fifth line of the original roster!
- Captain: Barkov; Coach: Marco Sturm.
Would This Work?
In truth, we’ll likely never find out. The NHL seems set on the four-team event in 2025. But if getting the most upper-echelon players in the world on the ice is the priority, this is the best way to do it. From a revenue-generating perspective — which matters in a league on a post-pandemic rebound — this format offers only three to five dates vs. the guaranteed seven of a four-team tournament. This is hard to get past if you’re the NHL, which is famously high on satisfying its ownership group at all costs.
The Mikita Cup™️ offers something creative that could become a signature event on the NHL’s schedule. Of all years, 2025 seems like the best time to try to get creative. It’s considerably simpler to construct with only two teams, a singular focus, fewer games, and less international loopholes to navigate. In golf, it’s a marketing dream, attracting perpetual in-year interest on roster selection. Most importantly, it brings global eye balls to the sport.
Oh, and who would win? I’ve got North America winning the Mikita Cup in five in a jaw-dropping showcase of contrasting styles, egos, and unparalleled skill displayed every night.
Here’s hoping to see it one day.