World Cup of Hockey 2016 officially announced, to be held in Toronto

The NHL will bring back its international event.

The World Cup of Hockey is back.

The NHL announced on Saturday that the international hockey tournament would make its return in Toronto in 2016 with full participation from NHL players. It could eventually be an international hockey replacement as the NHL considers keeping players out of the Winter Olympics in 2018. The NHL has said that this has no bearing on their Olympic decision, but they plan to do a World Cup tournaments every four years as part of an aggressive approach to grow the game internationally.

The tournament will be held in September 2016 at Air Canada Centre. It will be a two-week tournament beginning Saturday, September 17 and might end as late as October 1.

The World Cup will include six national teams: Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic. NHL players from other countries such as Slovakia, Switzerland and Norway will comprise the European All-Star team. The final squad will be the NHL "Young Guns" team, made up of North American players under the age of 23.

More details:

Each of the eight teams will feature 23 players, 20 skaters and three goalies. The teams will be split into two groups and play a round-robin competition before moving on to a one-game semifinal round. The final round will be a best-of-three format between the two semifinal winners. Each national association will select its own team and must announce at least 16 members of its roster, including at least two goalies, no later than March 1, 2016, with the balance of each team's roster to be announced no later than June 1, 2016.

Each of the eight teams will feature 23 players, 20 skaters and three goalies. The teams will be split into two groups and play a round-robin competition before moving on to a one-game semifinal round. The final round will be a best-of-three format between the two semifinal winners. Each national association will select its own team and must announce at least 16 members of its roster, including at least two goalies, no later than March 1, 2016, with the balance of each team's roster to be announced no later than June 1, 2016.

Whether the NHL participates in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea remains to be seen, and it could hinge on the success of the 2016 event in Toronto. The World Cup of Hockey has taken place twice previously, in 1996 and 2004.

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