NHL All-Star weekend kicks off tonight with the Skills competition, followed by the annual four squad tournament on Saturday. While bragging rights are on the line Friday, Saturday’s winners will once more split the $1M pot amongst the players.
New this year are two Vegas themed events, the “Fountain Faceoff” and “21 in ‘22” which will take place outdoors alongside the Vegas Strip. These additions provide a rare opportunity for fans to see the lighter side of the league, and add some intrigue into the weekend long event.
Yet it begs the question, what’s the point of the All-Star game anyways?
While there may be a portion of the hockey watching public that would consider themselves genuinely interested in the event, I’ve yet to encounter anyone who would call the All-Star game must watch TV. That’s no slight to the players, their skills are undeniable, but rather more indicative of where the NHL brand currently finds itself.
Bettman and Co. seem to have found the mushy middle between not being serious enough to attract the hardcore fan, and not gimmicky enough to entice the casual viewer to tune in. The league finds itself using a blend of fan votes, special events, and made for TV contests this year, while also trying to appeal to the sport’s traditions, and attempting to convince viewers that the outcome of these games is important.
It’s not. The players know this, the fans know this, and front offices know this. The only ones who seem to have missed the memo are those located at NHL headquarters in New York.
The league has tried to add some intrigue into things by doing player drafts in the past, and even trying to incentivize players with the promise of cold hard cash if they emerge victorious. Yet here we are, with players from every team represented (deserving of the honour or not), attempting to convince audiences that this is a prestigious world class event.
To be clear, I don’t care which direction they go, either lean into the weird and really bring in some unique concepts, or make it a serious event. Because trying to appeal to everyone winds up appealing to no one in the long run.
There’ve been so many missed opportunities this year it’s astounding. And the kicker is that it doesn’t take a marketing genius or Ivy League degree to come up with these concepts. The event is in Vegas for god sakes, and the best the NHL could muster is to shoot some pucks off boats in a fountain?
Hockey is constantly being told that they do a terrible job marketing their marquee players, no one has any personality, and that they take themselves far too seriously for a sport lagging behind every other professional league in North America. So instead of doing something about it, they roll out this lukewarm product and try to spin it off as innovation.
Here are literally 3 ideas off the top of my head that could have improved this weekend that the league completely whiffed on:
-Televise a “players only” poker tournament. Get a couple drinks into these guys and have them sit down in a casino and let the chirps fly. Fans would finally get a chance to see the personalities of the games brightest stars shine through. And before anyone gets bent out of shape about promoting gambling, the league is literally in bed with sports books now, so it actually would have been ON BRAND to have put this together.
-Marchessault, Pietrangelo and Stone are tasked with showing some of the 1st time All-Stars around Sin City. Take them to the gun range, take in a show, Hoover Dam, dune buggies in the desert whatever. Think of the unintentional comedy of seeing some of the younger players or International players trying to navigate their first experience in Vegas. Easy piece of content to produce, easy way to get eyeballs on the product.
-The same day you’re doing the player’s poker tournament, have a celebrity hockey game. People will pay good money to see Bieber get laid out in the corner. Have some of the players coach it themselves.
The NHL is all about ensuring their players aren’t injured in non-NHL games (hence why they pulled out of the Olympics), so you’re not going to get to see them do much in terms of physical activity. But could you imagine a flag football game at Allegiant Stadium? Mic players up, listen to their trash talk. This is what grabs viewers attention and brings fans closer to the game.
Now for those thinking that those ideas turn the event into a circus, ya, that’s the point. The league needs to either lean into the wackiness of the weekend, or make it a more formal affair.
If you want the All-Star game to actually mean something, that’s fine too. But you’re going to need to fundamentally revamp how the weekend is constructed.
From 1947-1968 the All-Star game featured the defending Stanley Cup champion taking on an All-Star lineup of the league’s best players. In 1969 you saw the Wales and Campbell conference take shape, where ONLY the starting 5 players were voted on by fans. The remaining players were chosen by league officials. In 1998 we saw North America take on a “World” side in the annual event. Before finally seeing the complete transformation into a side show where there was the fantasy draft, and creation of a prize pool to convince players to even show up.
What stands out about that timeline is that the ASG went from a point of pride, to a blend of deserving players and those needed to round out rosters, to what it is today: a participation trophy style event where every team gets representation.
If you want the All-Star game to mean something again, have the best players there. It’s really that simple. With players like Marchand, Crosby, and Kadri watching from home, the All-Star game no longer serves as a time capsule to represent who is truly amongst the league’s best players for that particular year.
When players like Ovechkin are actively looking for ways to skip the event year in, year out, it shows how low on the totem pole the All-Star game ranks for players on their priority list.
Take away the need to have every team represented at the game. Arizona doesn’t need to be there. Nick Suzuki may be the best player for Montreal at the moment, but he’s only got 27pts on the year, is a -19, and the Canadiens are vying for the number 1 overall pick. Nothing about that screams “All-Star”, and to send him anyway cheapens the experience for everyone.
You want to know who the game’s best players truly are? Have the players vote on it themselves. That will quickly show you who the people taking the ice each night believe are deserving of being there.
I love a good John Scott story as much as the next guy, but the NHL was left with egg on their face when his team won the event in 2016. They essentially humiliated him leading up to the game, which led to the players half-assing it when they played against the Pacific squad, because even THEY wanted Scott to win the whole thing.
Which brings us back to the initial question. What’s the point of the NHL All-Star Game? If its purpose is to truly showcase the best the game has to offer, then the league needs to revamp the process because they’re not even close at the moment. If it’s to bring in viewers, and give a rare glimpse into the personalities of the league then great, dress it up, go all out.
But trying to be the best of both worlds isn’t working, and the ratings, endorsement dollars, and social media engagement levels reflect that. The NHL All-Star Game is currently without an identity, but it doesn’t have to be. All that’s required is some creative thinking from the NHL head office. Which, now that I say it outloud, may be easier said than done.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner