New All Star Format

Last week, the National Hockey League announced its plans for the 2027 NHL All Star Game. The game, and weekend festivities, are set to take place February 5th and 6th at UBS Arena on Long Island. There are some big changes to be made to not only the game itself but to the skills competition, which is set to take place on the 5th, with the games on the 6th.

The NHL All Star Game first took place in 1947, becoming a battle of the conferences in 1969. 2009 was the last time we saw a battle of East vs West in the game, which then changed for a couple of years to fantasy drafts. Then in 2016 it changed to the battle of divisions, which held steady until another division like game, turned into a draft in 2024. The last two years have missed out due to the four nations tournament and the Olympics. Because of the success of those two events, the NHL is making the change this year.

For the skills competition next season, the league has made some changes. They are going to spotlight 10 young stars 25 or younger. Those ten guys are going to compete in eight events: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Passing Challenge, One Timers, Stick Handling and Accuracy Shooting. Players will earn points based on placement in each event. Top four point earners from this will advance to a shootout, facing one all star goalie. The top two from the shootout will face off in an obstacle course finale.

As for the game itself the next night, the format is getting another overhaul. IT's still going to be three on three games, but its going to be broken up into five teams: USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland and the World (the remaining countries who have players in the league). This group set up will face off in a round robin exhibition tournament. Each team will have 11 players: nine skaters and two goalies. Each team is going to play four 5-Minute games during this tournament. no overtimes, no shootouts. The top two te34ams will face off in a ten minute final based on a point system. The points will be 2 for a win, 1 for a tie and 0 for a loss.

I will give the NHL credit where its due for trying to change the game up and come up with some interesting ideas to draw fans to the entire weekend. But by dividing up the game into five countries and playing a round robin tournament is just dumb. Keep the four nations and Olympics as their own ideas. Olympics are a given every four years now. The four nations proved to be a huge success, so do that every two years between Olympic games. Every year between Olympics and Four-Nations keep an All Star Game. That Idea is something that would be fun and can work with.

For the all star game, go back to what you did for the eight years before the season long lockout. From 1998-2004 it was a regular 5 on 5 game that saw North America take on the World. Go back to something like that if you want to keep that international flavor for the all star game on years that four nations and Olympics aren't happening. Doing this for the game isn't going to fly with a lot of fans and it's going to keep a certain group of eyes off the product. I understand you trying to grow the game with ideas like this, but it makes no sense and nobody's going to play any harder for something like this. Keep it as close to an actual game as possible and use the old international format for the game, that should keep fans engaged and wanting to watch.