Tournament will replace NHL all-star game
Each division will have team in three-on-three competition
Anyone watching the NHL all-star game in recent years knew it was broken, so the league and players are trying something different to fix it.
A three-on-three tournament featuring teams from the four divisions will replace the traditional game at the 2016 NHL all-star weekend in Nashville in late January. The change, which required approval from players, drew positive reviews around the league based largely on how unpopular the old format was.
“I just think the all-star game’s fantastic for those who attend it,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “As far as being a spectator sport on TV, it sure hasn’t been that.”
The goal is to infuse something into the all-star game, without going to the lengths that baseball has. The MLB all-star game decides homefield advantage in the World Series.
That’s an extreme, but the Maple Leafs players’ association representative Daniel Winnik said the consensus was that the game “got a little stale and wasn’t very entertaining.”
“It was pretty much just pond hockey with guys that didn’t care too much,” Winnik said. “I think this’ll bring more excitement with the three-on-three. We have it in overtime, and I think with the prize pool that there’s going to be, guys are going to want to play hard and win.”
According to reports, the popular Friday night player draft will be scrapped.
All-star teams from the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions and the Central and Pacific divisions will play 20 minutes of three-on-three with the Eastern and Western Conference champions facing off after. The 11 players on the winning team will split $1million (U.S.), so just over $90,900 apiece. Winnik, who was part of the discussions about whether to approve three-on-three in the all-star game, said there was some concern about it being more physically exerting than the present format but added, “I’d do that for a chance at a million bucks.”
Team Toews beat Team Foligno 1712 last year, and typically the all-star game is an offensive showcase and a nightmare for goaltenders. Threeon-three won’t help the netminders’ cause.
“It’s going to be awful, probably,” said Leafs netminder James Reimer, who set the over-under for goals at 40. “I think the eight goalies that get picked, it’s going to be like a death sentence.”
Reimer felt good stopping some shots during three-on-three time at practice and then the floodgates opened.
“All of a sudden bam-bam, three goals out of nowhere,” he said. “I just went from feeling good to allowing three goals in 10 seconds. It could be pretty wild.”
The previous format of captains drafting teams lasted three all-star games, 2011 in Raleigh, N.C., 2012 in Ottawa and 2015 in Columbus. The game has existed in some form since October1947, when the Stanley Cupchampion Leafs played the NHL allstars at Maple Leaf Gardens.