COLUMBUS, Ohio — What was supposed to be an announcement of the World Cup of Hockey also could have been the death knell for NHL players participating in the Olympics.

On Saturday, league commissioner Gary Bettman and Players Association head Don Fehr jointly announced that coming September 2016, there will be a two-week tournament held exclusively at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre featuring eight international teams. It will overlap the start of training camp for about a week, with the latest date for completion being Oct. 1.

In 2018, the Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and it surely is looking like the league doesn’t want its players to go.

“I have a gut feeling on it,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, “but ultimately, the decision we make we want to make jointly with the Players’ Association. So I know what their gut feeling on it is, too. I’m not sure it is [the same].”

The main problem with going to the Olympics is the money, as players’ contracts need to be insured, and there is great cost in expenses. For the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) picked up a lot of those expenses. Now that the IOC has a new president, it’s unsure if the same arrangement will be there.

“There are a lot of challenges in going to South Korea, and a lot of the elements that were there for Sochi to make more sense aren’t necessarily there in South Korea,” Daly said. “If we get past the point where the IOC and the South Korea Organizing Committee want us on the same terms that Sochi wanted us, then we’re going to have to make a strategic decision. … And part of that might be to see how this World Cup tournament plays out.”

Rounding out the eight teams for the World Cup starts with six countries — the United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden and Czech Republic. Then, there is one team that is a mashup of all the European nations that weren’t invited, and one team made up North American “Youngstars,” players from the U.S. and Canada who are 23-year-old and under.The expectation is that 90 percent of the players will be NHL or AHL players, and if a player is under 23, he will not be eligible for the main team, only the Youngstars.

“The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will highlight not only our global reach, but also the skill and passion of the world’s best athletes,” Bettman said.

There was some concern that the sinking Canadian dollar would drastically affect next season’s salary cap, but Bettman laid out a simple scale on which it will work. Currently at 81 cents to the dollar, if it went up to 82 cents for the rest of the year, next year’s cap would be $72.2 million. If it goes down to 80 cents, $71.7 million. There are projections for lower than 80 cents, as well.

“The salary cap doesn’t fall off a cliff,” Bettman said.

The league officially announced the outdoor games for next season. the Winter Classic will be the Canadiens and Bruins at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on New Year’s Day. On Feb. 21, the Wild will play the Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota, and on Feb. 27, the Avalanche will play the Red Wings at Coors Field in Denver.

Players wore microchips in their jerseys, and there were chips in pucks, during Saturday’s skills competition.

“We are attempting to embark upon a journey that hopefully will enable us to create and then maintain a digital record of everything in our game and compile a complete digital history,” Bettman said.

The team captained by hometown boy Nick Foligno beat the team captained by Jonathan Toews, 25-19, in Saturday’s skills competition. The Islanders’ John Tavares struggled on the relay part, while his goalie, Jaroslav Halak, did well with the goalie goals, scoring his needed two on just four shots.

The Rangers’ Rick Nash, who was traded by the Blue Jackets before the 2012-13 season, was booed lustily each time he touched the puck.

Predators defenseman Shea Weber won the hardest shot, getting one on net at 108.5 miles per hour, just .3 behind the all-time record held by the Bruins’ Zdeno Chara.