The New NHL All-Star Game: Same Old S***?

This weekend marks the 58^th NHL All-Star Game, held this year at the RBC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. The NHL’s All-Star weekend used to be one of the most anticipated events for sports fans, but the combination of a lack of competitiveness, top players uninterested in attending and the overall draining popularity of the sport in the United States has resulted in poor ratings and poor fan support in recent years. But, are things beginning to change?

The NHL has tried to remedy the unpopular event with some interesting changes. In 1998 a shift from the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference was made and fans were introduced to North America vs. The World, banking on the patriotism of their fans to produce a “good guys vs. bad guys” showdown. But this wasn’t the 1972 Summit Series where Canada battled those commie Soviets; this wasn’t the 1980 Olympics where the U.S would come from nowhere to perform the “miracle on ice”. Every NHL club had plenty of players from all across the globe. Fans in North America were sporting the jerseys of their favourite clubs, with almost unpronounceable names on the backs. The NHL missed the gravy boat on North America vs. The World by about 10 years. Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference had its rebirth in 2003.

After no All-Star festivities last year because of the Vancouver Olympics, the NHL All-Star Game has returned with a completely revamped look.  The league has decided to go with the oldest, new format around: Captain’s pick. Niklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes were selected as the game’s two captains and will take turns choosing their squad from a group of all-stars chosen by the NHL.

Kudos, NHL, this is great idea, at least if it is done pure and not staged beforehand.  The league gets much needed attention for the whole weekend with the draft being held on Friday, the Skills Competition on Saturday and finally, the All-Star Game on Sunday.  There are many story lines to follow for the fans, and if all goes well the league could probably ride this format out for years.

I like that the NHL seems to want to change the format for the All-Star Game to something the fans will appreciate more, unfortunately, I think there is only one true way to do this: raise the intensity. Major League Baseball awards home field advantage for the World Series, a huge benefit, to the league that wins the All-Star Game. The players are playing for something, something real; they’re not just there to go through the motions.  Nobody wants to see players get hurt, but to rev up the intensity with an incentive to the winner would only benefit the league and its popularity.