Russia's Return To International Hockey Creates More Questions Than Answers For The World Juniors

Russia is coming back to the international stage.

With the Court of Arbitration for Sport having ruled that Russia will be allowed to return to international hockey in 2027, there have been negative reactions from various hockey federations around the world. The fallout of the decision will be talked about for months.

While Hockey Canada and USA Hockey haven't made official statements, Hockey Canada seems to be seeking clarification on what the news means for the tournament set to kick off in less than two months.

So where does this leave us?

Well, potentially being forced to add Russia to the world juniors in December, the first tournament that they will be eligible for, creates numerous problems.

The first of which is what happens if teams decide to boycott the event? If it's one team, does Russia just take their spot? If it's multiple teams, do they just count the boycotted games as losses? How many teams boycotting the event would justify cancelling it?

Will countries grant players visas to come into the host nation? Among other nations, the Canadian government has said it will not grant visas for national teams to enter the country for international sporting events, leading to multiple high-profile visa denials. As Canada hosts the World Juniors, will this be an issue?

Another issue is what the logistics of the tournament now look like? Schedules are built, the event is planned, and teams have invested great sums of money to ensure that they are ready to compete in Edmonton and Red Deer in December and early January.

Does Russia's inclusion mean that Norway, the team that earned promotion from the D1A tournament last year, get the boot? Would the IIHF expand the tournament to 12 teams? If they did that, would they relegate two or three teams in order to get back to 10 for next year or would 12 teams be the new norm?

If the IIHF did decide to stay at 10 teams and Norway was the victim of Russia's inclusion, how would Norway be made whole from both a competition and financial perspective? Countries invest significant resources in their programs, generally funding more as they reach higher levels. With the expectation that Norway would be on the biggest stage in junior hockey, how does that change things?

While there are many unanswered questions and negative feelings around the inclusion of Russia, there are some positives that are going to come from this, purely from a hockey perspective.

The first positive is that we are going to see one of the premier hockey programs in the world back in a best-on-best tournament. This will make for entertaining product and something fans have been longing to see.

A positive for NHL teams is that they will get to see Russian players up close and personal for the first time in a few years. Many NHL organizations have not had boots-on-the-ground scouts in Russia and that has impacted their ability to evaluate players.

Top skaters like Nazar Privalov, Vladimir Shtyrkhunov and Sergei Skvortsov are all high-end prospects for this year's NHL draft and this will give them an opportunity to show what they can do against some of the best players in their age group.

The decision to allow Russians back into international play is a controversial one to say the least. There are going to be hard feelings all over, from players to organizers to federations.

How things unfold over the next few months — with the World Juniors being the first event they are allowed back into — will be interesting to watch.

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