IIHF's Good with Bure's Geezer League

Published on 15-Aug-2015 by J Square Humboldt

NHL    NHL Daily Update

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IIHF's Good with Bure's Geezer League

Golf has a Senior's Tour.

It works because when, say, Bernhard Langer is lining up a putt, he doesn't have to worry about, say, Sandy Lyle charging at him with bad intentions.

Take away the bad intentions in hockey, and what's left would be a glorified shinny exhibition better known as the NHL All-Star game.

Didn't Canadian citizen James Naismith invent basketball so hockey fans wouldn't have to endure stuff like that?

So what the hell is retired Russian Rocket Pavel Bure thinking?

Whatever it is, the IIHF -- world hockey's governing body -- says they'll sanction his vision of the World Legends Hockey League (WLHL):

  • Players must be at least 45 years old; and
  • They must have represented their country in an IIHF-sanctioned tournament, such as the Olympics and World Championships.

No doubt certain public figure bent on re-assembling old empires can't wait for the inevitable iron fist exemption:

This could be the big break Kodak needs to stage a comeback. What else would be needed to cover these games?

Bure figures the European hockey powers -- ie- Czech Republic, Finland, Germany (!), Russia, Slovakia, and Sweden -- can field 20 players and a seven-dude management team.

Mark your calendars for the first week of October, when a set of Russian pensioners will take on the Rest of the World in the WLHL All-Star game. After all, why wait for mid-season? This'll be the only contest where North Americans are invited, presumably so Bovada can post a prop bet on how long it'll take Chris Chelios and [insert any Flyer's name here] to forget it's an all-star game.

Damn! Kjell Samuelsson? Maybe there is hope!

This league could just be the validation Bure needs to show that defensive skills don't matter if the flash and dash is there:

Wait'll the vid developers get hold of this concept. Oh, wait ...

If Bure could name Dorian Gray as the WLHL commish, he might be on to something.