It is that time of year again! Every last weekend in January, some of the NHL’s brightest stars gather in one of the NHL’s 31 cities to participate in the NHL All-Star Game. The All-Star Game is the only time during the year that you get to see the best players from all over the league come together to play in what should be a celebration of the NHL and of hockey in general. But as of late, I believe the All-Star Game has been far from that.
In 2009, the All-Star Game was a contest between the best players from the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. The East won the game in a shootout by a score of 12-11. The game took a year-long hiatus due to the Olympics but came back and better than ever during the 2011 season. 
This time, however, instead of East vs West, the NHL introduced the All-Star Fantasy Draft. The NHL determined the two captains, and they would have the field of all-stars to draft from, just like your traditional schoolyard pick. These captains were Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal. The captain format would remain in 2012, but there would be no All-Star Game in 2013 due to the NHL Lockout and no game in 2014 due to the Olympics. But the game returned in 2015, once again, with the captain format. 

Since the 2016 all-star game, the NHL has used a different format, which allowed for each division to be represented by their best. Each division had a team featuring nine skaters and two goaltenders. The divisions would compete in a tournament formatted like three-on-three overtime. The winners of each game would play each other, and the winner is crowned the All-Star champion. 
The 2019 All-Star Game was viewed by 1.3 million people, which is the third-most for an All-Star Game since 2004, but for an event like an All-Star Game, those numbers should be higher. For example, the 2019 NFL Pro Bowl, which was held on the same date as the NHL all-star game received a peak viewership of nine million viewers. The 2019 NBA All-Star Game last February received 6.8 million viewers and the 2019 MLB All-Star Game in July had 8.4 million viewers.
For 2020, the NHL decided to change the date that their game would be played. The All-Star Skills Competition will be held tonight, while the game will be held tomorrow. The NHL now has its own day to shine apart from the NFL; however, in order for the NHL All-Star Game to have higher viewership, I believe they should change the format back to the traditional format.

Traditional game rules, conference versus conference. Having the Eastern Conference vs the Western Conference for bragging rights is what the majority of hockey fans want to see. Instead of watching three-on-three overtime rules for three hours straight, wouldn’t it be fun watching the best of each conference face off for sixty minutes? I believe it would be.
However, no matter the format, the NHL All-Star Game will be played tomorrow, with the Skills Competiton being played tonight. Mathew Barzal will represent the Islanders for the Metropolitan Division for the second straight year as they look to defend their title. Tune in tonight and tomorrow to see Barzal represent the Blue and Orange!

Drive4Five