The NHL's annual All-Star Weekend was once an event that people genuinely looked forward to. There were plenty of reasons to tune in, with the always exciting Skills Competition, followed by a best-on-best exhibition, with the Eastern Conference All-Stars faced off against the Western Conference All-Stars. Now, things are much, much different.
The current iteration of the All-Star festivities include wild, "innovative" Skills Competitions that have almost become like a circus sideshow. Somewhere along the way, fans have stopped responding to it and maybe the NHL is finally catching on and preparing to do something about it.
Last night during Kraft Hockeyville coverage on Sportsnet, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman revealed that there will be changes to the event this year. Bettman revealed that since the All-Star festivities were in Toronto this season, the plan is to tone down the event a bit as a way of paying tribute to the history of the event and that the All-Star Skills Competition will be a bit more traditional.
Bettman was careful not to drop too many details so early, but it's nice to know that the NHL is finally paying attention to the fact that people are losing interest in All-Star Weekend and are actually trying to do something about it.
Personally, I began to lose interest when the whole "best-on-best" idea went away and shifted more towards an "every team gets at least one representative" approach. Yes, it's inclusive, but it's not what's best for the event itself. I've also never really been a big fan of the 3-on-3 format. It's a far cry from traditional hockey and has more of a "back yard tournament" feel, which I'm not really into. Yes, there are some exciting moments, but it's not really hockey in my eyes. 5v5 will always be the ticket, at least in my mind.
