The conclusion of the World Baseball Classic has a lot of people in the sports world talking about baseball, including NHL superstar Connor McDavid.

With some of the best baseball players in the world representing their countries in a two-week tournament, McDavid told reporters Wednesday that a similar event is “what hockey has been missing.”

“That's what we've been asking for in hockey for a long time, right? Best-on-best,” McDavid said. “Look, everyone's talking about baseball and you see Ohtani vs. Trout and that's what hockey has been missing for almost a decade now.”

The World Baseball Classic ended in about as dramatic a fashion as it could Tuesday night. Los Angeles Angels teammates, and consensus two best baseball players on the planet Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, squared off in an epic final at-bat that saw Ohtani strikeout the three-time MVP to secure the championship for Japan.

The hockey world hasn't seen NHL players compete in an international tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Connor McDavid played in that preseason tournament before racking up his first 100-point season in just his second season in the league in 2016-2017. While the league has plans to conduct another World Cup of Hockey in 2025, it is anything but a lock to actually happen.

Additionally, NHL players have not been allowed to play in the last two Winter Olympics, with the 2014 edition being the last to feature NHL talent.

Whether you agree with Connor McDavid or not, it is hard to deny the value that an international tournament has on a sport. The growth of baseball around the world will be evident following the World Baseball Classic. Hockey could use a similar event to display its product and grow the sport globally.