NHL Goes Toe-to-Toe with NBA – and Wins!
After a three-year-plus hiatus, I’m back. After watching the entirety of the NHL’s 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, I had to share my thoughts on the tournament with the hockey community.
First off, it’s great to be back. I’m always grateful for Sal and the opportunity to write for Puck Junk.
Second, what a freaking tournament! I love international hockey. It’s my favorite form of international sporting competition and always must-see TV. I believe the NHL’s product is at the top of its game right now, but there is something special about best-on-best international hockey; something we haven’t seen since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. It was a tournament I made the effort to go to when I saw Team USA lose 3-0 to Team Europe.
You may remember Team Europe was a mishmash of players from European countries who didn’t make the cut to have a team. I looked back at some of the players who played for Team Europe in that game. Many of them have become superstars in today’s game like Leon Draisaitl and Roman Josi. Future Hall-of-Famers Anze Kopitar, Zdeno Chara, and Marian Hossa played for Team Europe, too.
The Four Nations tournament did not disappoint. It’s a bummer we didn’t see players from the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, or Germany compete, but the four nations that competed made up for it.
The tournament’s highlight was the three fights in the first nine seconds of the round-robin game between USA and Canada. The game had a lot of hype going into it and it started with a BANG. Matthew Tkachuk started things off by fighting Brandon Hagel. Little brother Brady quickly answered, fighting Matt’s teammate Sam Bennett. And J.T. Miller dropped the gloves next with Colton Paryko.
I was sitting on the couch watching the game and yelled a few expletives so my roommate would turn around and see the excitement. It’s the most I’ve enjoyed watching a hockey game in years. As an American, I was pumped to see the U.S. beat Canada, especially given the tension between the two countries in our current political climate.
Unfortunately, it was 2010 all over again, when the Americans valiantly beat the Canadians in the first matchup but lost in the championship game. Except this time, it wasn’t Sidney Crosby scoring the winner; it was Canada’s new golden boy, Connor McDavid.
This one hurt a little less personally because former Spartan Ryan Miller wasn’t in the net to give up the goal this time.
The gold medal game was electric. It’s the first time since the 2018 Olympic Gold Medal Game I made an effort to gather a group of friends to watch the game at a bar.
Mind you, I’m a Red Wings fan and the last time the Red Wings played in a playoff game was 2016. I was freshly 21 years old; I’ll be 30 in a little more than a month. I wasn’t the only one who made an effort to watch the game. I went to one of Chicago’s notable soccer bars, Cleo’s to watch the game, thinking it would be fun but not too packed. I got there just before the game started and snagged the last available table. I spotted a number Team USA hockey jerseys and lots of Blackhawks’ gear. The bar was full of people there to watch the gold medal game.
The game was juxtaposed alongside the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, which was a massive flop. This was the first year the NBA attempted a four-team tournament instead of the typical two-team format, something the NHL attempted in the past. The game was an utter flop. The majority of the broadcast was filled with Kevin Hart and Mr. Beast, instead of basketball.
P.K. Subban went on Get UP on ESPN to talk about the difference between the two events. His comments made the rounds on social media, and I couldn’t agree more.
Many of my friends that I talked to share his thoughts, too. Hockey fans expect more from their players than NBA fans do. It furthers the notion while the NHL product continues to ascend, the NBA product has declined. This is something my roommate and I have discussed at length. We’ve lived together for almost a year and the only NBA games we watched were the NBA Finals.
I’ve watched two NBA regular season games this season: Luka Dončić’s debut with the Lakers and the second game of the Pistons/Bulls doubleheader that I saw live with friends.
The NBA product is much worse than it was 10 years ago. I don’t want to watch no-name players chuck 50 three-pointers a game. That’s not entertaining. Each league’s All-Star weekend encapsulated where each product is right now. The NHL product is stellar and more international hockey only adds to that. The NBA has a problem on its hands. Something needs to change and change now.
It was during the Four Nations tournament that I remembered I had this SAME idea FIVE years ago:
After putting a bit of thought into, I had an idea. What I would watch is an international tournament. In fact, after the NHL deprived us of seeing the world’s best at the 2018 Olympic Games, I want it now more than ever. Another World Cup of Hockey would be more than sufficient.
I’m not sure what the league plans to do about the Olympics going forward, but if they are going to continue refusing to let NHL players suit up for their countries, why not use it to their own advantage? I propose that the league revamps the WCH and uses it to replace All-Star weekend. I’d bet all 31 clubs would still be represented so each market would have an interest. It would also allow one market each year to host, just like the current All-Star weekend format. Not only that, it would be far more exciting than a few three on three games and would quench the fan’s thirst for international hockey on a grand stage.
The more I think about it the more I want this to happen. If the NHL wants to create more attention for the league in midseason, they can call me because I have a few more ideas that I think can help.
Before I wrote about how the NHL should scrap its All-Star game for an international tournament, I wrote how the NHL needs its own day to attract attention to itself without the competition of other leagues. That competition has only gotten worse since then. The shine of the Winter Classic has started to rub off and the expansion of the College Football Playoff demands all eyes on it during the holiday season. I wrote this in November of 2018
I would love to see the NHL create their own pseudo-holiday. A time of year where the league can launch an entire marketing campaign around and steal attention away from the NFL and NBA. I suggest something in late February to early March, after football season ends and before March Madness and Baseball season start — which leads me to my big idea.
The NHL should start its own featured tour that would feature each city and team for one day for 31 days in a row. It would be a traveling festival of sorts. Each city would host its own celebration of hockey and their team would play a nationally-televised home game that night.
The festival would consist of a fan fest, player appearances, and efforts to engage with each community. NHL representatives would be in attendance on each date and would help promote the festivities. Imagine how much coverage that would get if they played a game on national television each night, and the amount of content they would get from highlighting each city. It would no doubt increase attention in each individual city but would also create buzz for the league with the attention of the festival itself.
The NHL finally did it. They took my advice! They should hire me to run their marketing (I’m looking for a new job!). The round-robin USA vs. Canada matchup was the most watched hockey game since Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals.
Not only that, but the NHL went toe-to-toe with NBA All-Star Weekend and crushed them in terms of buzz and notoriety. People were directly comparing the two and declaring that the NBA should learn a thing or two from the NHL. That’s never been the case. The NBA is a headline machine, regardless of the on-court action. If I were to guess the hypothetical betting line for the NHL to win the All-Star weekend publicity battle against the NBA, I’d expect it to be around +1000.
The NHL may have finally cracked the code. Scrap the All-Star Game and host an international tournament every year. While this could result in international hockey losing some allure, there are other options the NHL could consider.
The NHL could lobby for the World Championships or World Junior Championships to be played during their All-Star weekend and promote them instead. I would expect the league to be skeptical of this because they wouldn’t own the tournament the way they do the Four Nationals and the World Cup of Hockey. This is one of the reasons they stopped sending players to the Olympics. They didn’t want to stop their season in the middle to allow their players to play in another tournament, risk injury, and reap no reward.
I’m sure there is more meat on the bone here. I just hope the league doesn’t return to the same, tired All-Star Game format. They didn’t just hit a home run with the Four Nations, they hit a Grand Slam. They achieved something they couldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams. It’s up to them to keep up the momentum and build on the success of the Four Nations.
Thankfully for the fans, we only have to wait a year for another best-on-best international tournament. The NHL IS sending players to the 2026 Olympics in Milano and Cortina, Italy. Thankfully, those cities are only six hours ahead of EST instead of the 13-hour time difference from EST to Beijing China, where the 2022 Olympics were hosted. I know I’ll be glued to my TV watching every game.
Blake Isaacs is a two-time marathon finisher and a die-hard fan of all Detroit and Michigan State sports. He loves a bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel and is looking for a new job! Follow him on Instagram @bisaacs 1995 and on LinkedIn.
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