NHL World Cup of Hockey 2016: Latest Details, Location, Date and More

After a 12-year hiatus, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced Saturday that the World Cup of Hockey will return in 2016.

The NHL's Twitter account made it official from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, as part of the 2015 All-Star Game festivities:

According to NHL.com's Dan Rosen, the event will take place in September:

Here is a look at the backdrop for the landmark announcement, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus:

According to ESPN.com's Scott Burnside, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be hosted in Toronto, and it will have a different format than past versions of the tournament.

It will feature eight teams, six of which are Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic. The other two will add an interesting wrinkle, as one will be comprised of European all-stars from countries not included, and the other will be an under-23 North American all-star team.

In addition to that, the final will be a best-of-three series, as was the case when Team USA beat Canada in 1996.

Per NHL.com, NHL Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr believes the World Cup will be great for everyone involved.

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We expect the 2016 World Cup of Hockey to be the most competitive tournament of its kind, with the world's top players and best athletes. We look forward to working with the NHL, and the IIHF and its Federations on this extraordinary event. We expect that this is the initial step in a series of events that will elevate our game over the next few years, including a World Cup in 2020.

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Many assumed that the World Cup's return would spell the end of NHL players in the Winter Olympics, but that decision hasn't been made, per Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe:

International competition often brings out the best in hockey players, as evidenced by the high level of play at the Olympics, and the revamped World Cup could provide something similar.

The NHL is always looking for a way to showcase its players and the sport as a whole, and the World Cup of Hockey will certainly accomplish that.

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