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World Cup of Hockey tournament set for 2016

Alexander Demianchuk / REUTERS

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The World Cup of Hockey will be making a long-awaited return in 2016.

The tournament will feature eight teams with the games played in Toronto before NHL training camps open in September.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association Executive Director Donald Fehr announced the tournament's return Saturday at a news conference during the league's All-Star Game weekend festivities in Columbus, Ohio. The league also announced the Bruins and Canadiens will play in the Winter Classic next year on Jan. 1 at Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots football team. It's one of several outdoor games planned for next year.

A new wrinkle will be added to the World Cup format, with two of the teams made up of multinational players. One team will consist of North American-born players under the age of 23. Another will consist of European-born players whose countries aren't represented.

The other six teams will be Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland.

The World Cup and its predecessor, the Canada Cup, have been held seven times since 1976 through 2004.

The timing of the tournament comes two years before the Winter Olympics will be held in South Korea. The NHL has not yet determined whether it will allow its players to compete in the Pyeongchang Games. Travel is an issue and could cause a lengthy break to the league's regular season.

The one caveat players had is they don't want the World Cup to be held at the expense of competing at the Olympics, which NHL players have done since the Nagano Games in 1998.

''Olympics are olympics,'' Slovenian-born Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar said. ''I don't know if that would be a good trade off.''

The format of the following World Cup tournament in 2020 will be tweaked even further, according to ESPN's Scott Burnside.

Burnside's sources believe the NHL and its players will devise a qualifying tournament for the event so European teams such as Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany can qualify as part of a precursor event in 2019.

It is also believed the league and players will develop more relaxed regulations than the Olympics, allowing players to play on teams based on heritage rather than place of birth.

With files from theScore staff.

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