NHL stars hoping for World Cup in 2024, lament missed opportunities

Connor McDavid has seen enough big-time opportunities slip through hockey's fingers.

The NHL made a business decision when it opted against sending its stars to the 2018 Olympics in South Korea after participating at five straight Winter Games.

The league was then on course for a return to the world's biggest sporting showcase in February as part of a 2020 deal with its players in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

But the plug on going to Beijing in 2022 was eventually pulled because of "profound disruptions" to the NHL schedule following a long list of coronavirus issues.

The disappointment for players – now stretching back over two Olympic quadrennials ­– was and is real.

"The NHL has missed out on, and hockey in general, has missed out on a huge chunk of international play and best-on-best play that would have been really, really special," McDavid, captain of the Edmonton Oilers, said at last month's NHL/NHLPA player media tour ahead of the 2022-23 season.

"They missed out on a huge, huge portion of the international game."

The league and NHL Players' Association continue to move toward holding a World Cup of Hockey in February 2024, but there's still nothing official roughly 16 months out from a potential start date.

Owners have never been enamoured with the Olympics for a host of reasons, including the need for a pause to the schedule, but an event put on by the NHL has been more palatable.

If a World Cup happens in 2024, it would mark hockey's first best-on-best tournament since the event was last held in 2016.

McDavid, however, didn't get the opportunity to play for Canada six years ago as a member of the under-23 Team North America, while Toronto Maple Leafs sniper Auston Matthews and Vegas Golden