"We had a meeting with the [NHL] Players' Association last week on it," Daly said at the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. "It is something that we committed to each other throughout kind of the Olympic developments, that we would get to it very quickly because we need to get to it very quickly."
The last World Cup of Hockey was in 2016 in Toronto, where eight teams -- Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Finland, Team Russia, Team Sweden, Team USA, Team Europe and Team North America -- competed in a two-week tournament. Team Canada defeated Team Europe in two games of the best-of-3 final.
The event was also held in 1996, won by the United States; and in 2004, won by Canada.
"We have some ideas on what that can look like," Daly said. "It might look a lot different than the 2016 [World Cup] with different elements, more exciting, compelling elements to it. Not prepared to say beyond that what they might look like, but we're going to follow up with each other and follow up with our partners with the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) on that tournament."
The NHL announced Dec. 22 that its players would not participate in the 2022 Beijing Olympics because its regular-season schedule had been disrupted as a result of increasing COVID-19 cases and a rising number of postponed games. At the time of the announcement, 50 games had been postponed.
The NHL announced Jan. 19 that 95 games were being rescheduled for the Feb. 7-22 window that was previously designated as a pause to accommodate participation in the Olympics. That was part of a comprehensive update to the regular-season schedule that would enable the 32 teams to each play all 82 games by the original closing date of April 29.
"I don't know how we would have completed the (full 2021-22) season if we went to the Olympics (this year)," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Hopefully the world will be a better place for Italy in four years, because we know the players want to go and it's important that we respect that."
The NHL last participated in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, when Canada won gold, Sweden won silver and Finland won bronze. The NHL also sent players to the four previous Olympics since being invited for the 1998 Nagano Olympics but did not take part in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
The NHL intends to participate in the 2026 Olympics.
