Hockey fans have long complained about the NHL All-Star Game. Its just about corporate schmoozing, the ballot process sucks, the game isn't entertaining, the best players don't want to play— so why should the fans care?
I can admit that as a hockey fan, the All-Star Game has lost a lot of its luster in my eyes. The Winter Classic has become the must-watch event. The All-Star skills competition is still fun to watch, but the game itself just doesn't have a big appeal for me, and has become a joke to a lot of other people.
There was no bigger example of this than when then Vancouver Canucks defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick, despite having zero points in 18 games played, finished third in the Western Conference defenseman vote behind Scott Niedermayer and Nicklas Lidstrom in 2007 due to the fan-driven ""Vote for Rory"" campaign, designed to be a humorous campaign to show the flaws in the NHL's voting system, and it almost worked.
The other problem fans have with the event is the apathetic attitudes some of the game's star players have toward the game. It always seemed like the best players always found a way to come up with an injury or some other obligation that kept them from participating in the game, and if the best players aren't being showcased, what is the point of an All-Star Game?
That situation got so bad that before the 2009 game in Montreal, the NHL actually implemented a suspension policy that forced every player selected to the All-Star roster o participate or be subject to a one-game suspension. It is kind of sad that that is what needed to happen to get star players to participate and it just goes to show how little relevance the All-Star game has, even among players.
The NHL needed to do something to regain fan interest in the game other than finding ways to make fun of it, and this past week the league implemented new policies for this year's game in Raleigh, N.C., that are a step in the right direction.
The new format will break down as follows.
The fan balloting process hasn't been completely eliminated, but it has been modified. Instead of the fans determining the starting lineups for both conferences, the fans will vote for six players— three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie— from an NHL-dictated list of 100 players, regardless of which conference they play in. The top vote getters from that list will be the first all-stars. After that the NHL will name the remaining 36 all- stars for a total of three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards per team.
Those 42 players then select two team captains, and from there it becomes like the games of pick up hockey we played as kids. The East-West format has been eliminated, and instead the two captains will pick their teams, the first pick being determined by a coin flip. This draft will be televised at the end of January.
I, for one, am really excited by this new format. Lets just say this turns into ""Team Ovechkin"" versus ""Team Crosby."" That type of format has potential for the drama and intrigue the fans want.
That is mostly because of the playground-type feel this selection process has to it. It's like back in the days when you were a kid and you and your friends threw your sticks in the middle of the street and two captains picked sticks to determine teams. It brings hockey back to its roots, something the NHL has been trying to promote in recent years.
But the real thing is the drama and excitement of two captains picking their own teams. Players like Ovechkin or Crosby, two potential captains, are conducting their own fantasy draft and have to strategize and decide what is the best way to beat the other. It has the potential to take rivalries to new levels. What happens when one of them picks a teammate over someone who many see as a better player, or a rival over a teammate? Do accusations of bias surface? And which player is going to get the distinction of being the last player picked?
But the best thing? The players are fired up. The NHL has given control back to the players, and if the players are entertained and excited by the new format, then the fans will be as well.
Fans can watch all of this unfold starting this season, and the NHL hopes that these changes will be the answer to the woes its All-Star Game has experienced in recent years. Only time will tell if these changes will promote the level of interest in the game that the NHL is hoping for, but for now, it looks hopeful.
Do you have a different solution for NHL reform? Is the event just fine as is? Should other sports adopt this process too? Let Ryan know your thoughts at rmevans2@wisc.edu.
