A Few Ideas To Spice-Up NHL All-Star Weekend

January 27, 2012
Posted in BC Edition, Alberta Edition, Ontario Edition, Columns

BY ANDREW CHONG, EDITOR /

It says something about the NHL All-Star Weekend when the highlight of the festivities is Thursday’s Player Fantasy Draft—which is really fun to watch.

But the actual hockey-playing elements still need help.

The All-Star Game has been ridiculed to death, over the years.

And despite recent efforts to improve the Skills Competition, the pace is still slow and the few charms it produces can usually be wrapped-up in about three minutes of highlights.

Here’s a few ideas to spice things up…

Get serious with the Breakaway Challenge

If you search Stamkos or Datsyuk doing crazy breakaway moves on YouTube, you will notice that these vids get hundreds of thousands of views.

People love it.

So why are there only three or four attempts allowed from five or six players?

Why not get eight guys with sick hands and give them three minutes each to do crazy stuff?

You could try this for 2012:

Steven Stamkos
Patrick Kane
Jordan Eberle
Marian Gaborik
Corey Perry
Phil Kessel
John Tavares
Pavel Datsyuk

That’s a half-hour of entertainment worth watching—especially if these guys are given proper notice to prepare moves and if they understand that fans (who vote the winner) want to see the craziest stuff possible.

Stanley Cup Champs vs. NHL All-Stars

The idea has been much-ballyhooed and it’s probably time to do it.

If it were this year, you’d have the Boston Bruins coming into Ottawa to face a super-team of NHL All-Stars (not watered-down into two teams).

So, you’ve got a cohesive and well-rounded team vs. a ridiculously talented team.

Of course, you will never get full intensity from an All-Star Game, but this format gets you closer: the Cup champs would probably be a little proud to beat a team of All-Stars; and the All-Stars probably wouldn’t be too keen to lose to a team of mostly non-stars.

And yes, there are probably a dozen little idiosyncrasies that would need to be worked-out (traded players from the Cup champs, teams not represented on the All-Star roster, etc.), but in general, this game instantly becomes a must-watch for a hockey fan.

At minimum, it would be cool to try, once.

Add a 2-on-2 Tournament to the Skills Competition

This idea is a little wacky but hear me out.
Of the six Skills Competition events, the weakest are probably the Skills Challenge Relay and the Elimination Shootout.

In these events, it seems the NHL is trying to showcase one-timers, passing, puckhandling, and speed—but the end result is usually blah (it’s hard to think of any fond memories from either of these events).

So, if you really want to showcase those attributes, why not give these guys a teammate, some opposition, and a wide-open sheet of ice for some two-on-two?

Based on this year’s All-Stars, you could go with an eight-team tournament bracket (first to two goals?), with something like this: