Should the NHL drop the All Star Game

[Donaldjr2448 43]

Ok, I was wondering how many folks out there hate the All Star Game! I for one hate them, and I think there a waste of time. Yeah the Skills competion is ok, but honestly the game is boring to say the least. I wish the NHL would just drop the game all together and just name the All Stars, give them all a jersey and a pat on the back and lets get back to business. I have never been a fan of All Star Games in any sport. what do you all think??

[Kp-Wings 3]

If the NHL made the All-Star Game more important and actually mean something, then it would be better.

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

I highly doubt that'll happen, but it's a topic worth discussing. They recently brought it up on XM Home Ice this past week, and it's a pretty good idea in my opinion.

[Donaldjr2448 43]

If the NHL made the All-Star Game more important and actually mean something, then it would be better.

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

I highly doubt that'll happen, but it's a topic worth discussing. They recently brought it up on XM Home Ice this past week, and it's a pretty good idea in my opinion.

Yeah, I have to agree!! I understand the tradition of the event, because about 15 years ago the games were competitive, but now its a 3 hour snore fest!! Not to mention we have to go 7 days with no Wings hockey!!

[dgodzina 0]

I like the All Star Game just how it is. I'm not a big fan of a situation in which the Wings make the cup finals and may not have home advantage in a potential Game 7 because two Red Wings and a bunch of other non Red Wings players lost a game to the Eastern Conference. I do agree that it might add a little more relevance to the game, but I think that most All Star Games' purposes are to acknowledge and perhaps shed light on the top talent in each sports league. There are good arguments on both sides, but I'm content with just kicking back and watching most of the game's best on the same rink for one day.

[shannyfan1414 0]

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

I totally agree with you on this one. I brought it up a couple of weeks ago and i would say it was pretty much a 50/50 split.

I think that it would be pretty sweet to see this game become a little bit more competitive. I guess you could even find one big sponsor or maybe a couple of them that would want to put some money in a purse for the two teams to fight over. Winner could take all and split it evenly.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

I absolutely love the All Star Game, especially the superskills comp!

[Superman54 91]

I enjoy them every year...

Something fun and diffrent

and i mean without the allstar game we would have never got owen nolans famous point http://youtube.com/watch?v=kSb_5PHRb1w

I think something special will come out of this allstar game, just a gut feeling

[rage 24]

If the NHL made the All-Star Game more important and actually mean something, then it would be better.

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

I highly doubt that'll happen, but it's a topic worth discussing. They recently brought it up on XM Home Ice this past week, and it's a pretty good idea in my opinion.

I don't like the way MLB did that at all. I would hate for it to be implemented in the NHL.

[Uncle Danny 155]

No.

Is this a joke? This is the biggest marketing weekend outside of the playoffs that the league has. It's also a chance to showcase talent that most casual fans haven't seen in a national light (e.g ovechkin to the western conference fans).

Is it perfect? Of course not. What is? Should we get rid of it because some spoiled Wings fans (present party included) aren't happy with the format or roster? That's just crazy talk.

The whining over minutiae and homerism on this board is starting to drive me nuts. People, please look beyond the 313 area code! We love the greatest game on the planet, yet all people seem to focus on is nits about how the Wings were slighted in every thread. I love them as much as (or, I expect, more than) most of you, but I love the game even more.

-UD

PS: You have had the winningest team for the past 15 years to root for. Please apply some of that love to the game that they play. Please think of the reasons that each of the players you love and despise get up and lace the skates each night. This game goes back a century. If you don't, then you have no right to ***** without backing it up sans homerism.

PPS: You root for an Orginal Six team. Act like you respect that history, good and bad.

Edited January 26, 2008 by Uncle Danny

[grsbmd 0]

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

They should absolutely not do that. The regular season is already too long and meaningless. Don't get rid of its last importance (home ice advantage). A series can already come down to a bad bounce. PLEASE PLEASE NHL, don't make it come down to who wins a pointless exhibition game.

[bcwingsfan19 0]

I like the all-star game and I think it should stay. However, this year it still bothers me that Scott Niedermayer will be there.

[juice71285 2]

I like the current format, that the game doesn't mean anything and the players show it. This is because the season is already long enough with 82 games, and from the sounds of it might be bumped up to 84 games in the near future. If the game became more competitive, then there will be a higher risk of someone getting hurt. And to this point, your not talking about depth players getting hurt, your talking about essentially the cream of the crop players being injured. How would like to see Lidstrom or Datsyuk go down with a long-term or even worse season-ending injury in an All-Star game.

To the point of players showing that it doesn't mean anything. The players you can tell are genuinely having fun out there. They look like the kids you see at the local rink playing recreationly, or the old men's league. They're out there playing the game like the way most of us played it when we were younger, for the fun of it. This game is not a job to them like the other 82+ games they play. This is just one game they can take it easy and relax and enjoy it like they did when they first started playing it. They are also able to do things they usually wouldn't dare attempt in a normal game, such as someone pointed out Nolan's famous point to the net, which makes for some entertaining fun. To take that away you might as well say that after juniors/college its just business and nothing else.

To comment on the MLB All-Star way: I've never really liked that format for the simple fact that if your the best team in the regular season, you should be rewarded for it. Teams might start to play differently knowing that only their conference games matter and therefore will not play the other conference as tough or their best players during those games.

[55fan 5,133]

I think that it would be pretty sweet to see this game become a little bit more competitive. I guess you could even find one big sponsor or maybe a couple of them that would want to put some money in a purse for the two teams to fight over. Winner could take all and split it evenly.

I agree that it would be nice to make the game really mean something and make it more competetive. I do not like the idea of home advantage in the playoffs based on the outcome of the game.

So what if we take your idea of corporate sponser and add a twist? The players have already shown they aren't doing this for the money, but to promote the game.

What if we took that million or two from sponsers and had a game for charity? The East could decide on a cause, and the West on another. Winner gets 2/3 of the pot for their charity, loser gets 1/3 for theirs. The players have incentive. The NHL gets recognition. Some worthy charities get a boost, and good is done for all.

Just a thought.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

i think the game needs some grinders, hard hitters, and heavyweights...set up a boxing ring in the middle of the rink and have the best of both sides go at it, it would be as much of a circus as it is now

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

If the NHL made the All-Star Game more important and actually mean something, then it would be better.

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

I highly doubt that'll happen, but it's a topic worth discussing. They recently brought it up on XM Home Ice this past week, and it's a pretty good idea in my opinion.

It's definitely worth a shot, but like in baseball I think, home-ice or home-field advantage doesn't significantly have that huge of a difference, generally speaking. Unless it's a game 7 of course. I would think a game 7 goes a longer way for the home team in a hockey game vs. a baseball game, but this is just one idiot's opinion.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

No.

Is this a joke? This is the biggest marketing weekend outside of the playoffs that the league has. It's also a chance to showcase talent that most casual fans haven't seen in a national light (e.g ovechkin to the western conference fans).

Is it perfect? Of course not. What is? Should we get rid of it because some spoiled Wings fans (present party included) aren't happy with the format or roster? That's just crazy talk.

The whining over minutiae and homerism on this board is starting to drive me nuts. People, please look beyond the 313 area code! We love the greatest game on the planet, yet all people seem to focus on is nits about how the Wings were slighted in every thread. I love them as much as (or, I expect, more than) most of you, but I love the game even more.

-UD

PS: You have had the winningest team for the past 15 years to root for. Please apply some of that love to the game that they play. Please think of the reasons that each of the players you love and despise get up and lace the skates each night. This game goes back a century. If you don't, then you have no right to ***** without backing it up sans homerism.

PPS: You root for an Orginal Six team. Act like you respect that history, good and bad.

The whining/homerism comments aside, I'm pretty much in agreement here. As stated I wouldn't mind them tweaking a few things with the All-Star game, but to completely drop it would just be ridiculous.

It's an entertainment thing. It's a day for the fans, both the die-hards and the casuals, to see some of the better players (I know I know a lot of the "best players" this year aren't playing) all at the same time.

Right now though, like the NBA All-Star game where the game itself is pretty meaningless in terms of standings/results, there's nothing just so terrible about it that I'd get rid of the game completely.

EDIT: Terry Frei gives some decent suggestions I think, esp. the last two. Possibly hold it outdoors every few years or soon rotate it between O-6 arenas.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/allstar2008/...&id=3212761

Edited January 26, 2008 by SouthernWingsFan

[Krystal 41]

I agree that it would be nice to make the game really mean something and make it more competetive. I do not like the idea of home advantage in the playoffs based on the outcome of the game.

So what if we take your idea of corporate sponser and add a twist? The players have already shown they aren't doing this for the money, but to promote the game.

What if we took that million or two from sponsers and had a game for charity? The East could decide on a cause, and the West on another. Winner gets 2/3 of the pot for their charity, loser gets 1/3 for theirs. The players have incentive. The NHL gets recognition. Some worthy charities get a boost, and good is done for all.

Just a thought.

I'm a big fan of that idea. It's a win-win situation.

I'm really not keen on the idea of using the all-star game to determine who gets home ice advantage. Things like that, would pressure guys like Zetterberg into playing when they really shouldn't be. As someone pointed out, losing someone during the All-Star game would be such a slap to the face.

[puckloo39 5,686]

No.

Is this a joke? This is the biggest marketing weekend outside of the playoffs that the league has. It's also a chance to showcase talent that most casual fans haven't seen in a national light (e.g ovechkin to the western conference fans).

UD, I don't disagree with most of the rest of your post, but this part... well, if the NHL wanted to actually showcase the players and call this a national marketing weekend, they might want to consider putting the festivities on a network more people can actually see.

I get Versus, only because I have to shell out for digital cable top tier in order to get Center Ice. Otherwise, Versus is not available here. The NHL Network is not and will not be offered in this market; that's according to Time Warner Austin, who ought to know. There are other ways to get the feeds, obviously, if you have the time/money/energy to spend jacking around to get hold of it and if you're willing to sit in front of a computer screen all weekend. The computer route is inferior and inconvenient for most, but a hard core fan might do it. Casual fans wouldn't know where to start.

My point is, if the NHL actually cared about attracting fans, they would make the showcase available. I am not sure what the ASG is good for, other than fun for the players who are going and for the fans who will break their necks to try and see their favorites.

The good thing about this weekend is that it will give some of our players a chance to rest and relax. It's a long season and they've been working hard. Other than that, if the NHL did away with ASG, I would not miss it at all. JMO.

[b.shanafan14 733]

It shouldn't be eliminated, just revamped dramatically. Here's the medicine:

1) Move it to sometime in the offseason, maybe before the preseason starts to get NHL fans back into the game with an event. At current format players are too tired and want time off instead of another two days of work.

2) Abandon trying your best to fit a player from each team in there. Its never going to happen without shafting more deserving players (see: Duncan Keith > Brian Rafalski?)

3) Follow more closely to statistical output rather than All-Star "status". The ASG as I originally perceived it was meant to reward the best players on performance, not career achievement.

4) The YoungStars game needs to go. I don't enjoy it personally, I see it as filler before the skills competition.

5) Sell the game to fans through players not named Sidney Crosby. Mic up personality guys like they did Turco, like they should do Ozzy, guys like Shanny, Ovechkin, etc. Definately doesn't help that everyone from TSN to ESPN has called this years ASG a joke, basically because of no Crosby, few mentioning the loss of Luongo, Zetterberg, Statsny, etc.

All-in-all, current format is a joke but the original concept of the All-Star weekend is good and salvagable.

[puckloo39 5,686]

3) Follow more closely to statistical output rather than All-Star "status". The ASG as I originally perceived it was meant to reward the best players on performance, not career achievement.

best I can tell, they're already doing this now. There are some instances where even the numbers don't matter, however (Rafalski this year, others in past weekends).

The politics of the selection process needs to be removed -- whether it's including players who don't "deserve" to be there based on their career achievements, or some some cases, snubbing certain players for the same reason.

edit: sp

Edited January 26, 2008 by puckloo39

[BlakChamber 8]

The NHL should do what MLB did with their All-Star Game: whoever wins will get home field during the playoffs. Take that same concept and incorperate it with the NHL All-Star Game, and you'd suddenly see a much more competitive game.

it was a horrible idea when the MLB did it. The NHL doesn't need to make the same mistake.

[Reds4Life 51]

I think they should go back to Canada vs World format, I enjoyed that much more.

[lfd250 1]

Yes, One reason a true fan can't go to the game. by the time all the sponsers get their tickets, then the players, then the NHL, then the stars..... you get my point.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I think the team should be announced a week before the game. This way there won't be all these disappointing injuries and dropouts before the game. Even some of the players don't take it seriously anymore, so why should the fans?

[auxlepli 17]

I think there needs to be some kind of mid-season break, but the ASG bores me to tears. All of them do though. To make it means something, like MLB does, would be a horrendous mistake. I hate that baseball does it, and I would hate it if the NHL did it. MLB is one league the NHL should not emulate.