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How to make the NHL All-Star Game better

Jan 27, 2017, 5:08 PM

Pacific Division forward Corey Perry (10), of the Anaheim Ducks, shakes hands with Atlantic Divisio...

Pacific Division forward Corey Perry (10), of the Anaheim Ducks, shakes hands with Atlantic Division forward Dylan Larkin (71), of the Detroit Red Wings, after the Pacific Division won the NHL hockey All-Star championship game 1-0 Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Perry scored the only goal in the game. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — There’s been a lot of ink, sweat and angst needlessly spent trying to make All-Star games meaningful. Let it go. They are not and they never will be. All-Star games are and always will be exhibitions: media and fan-centric showcases for the leagues’ best players, the sports and the leagues themselves.

Major League Baseball scrapped the ill-conceived Selig Rule in December because the idea of awarding something as important as World Series homefield advantage to whichever league (American or National) won a meaningless midseason exhibition game was a terrible idea.

We understand that Selig wanted to make the game consequential, but you can’t draw water from a stone. It’s OK that the players are only mildly interested in All-Star games. It’s OK that bringing their families along and having a good time is just as important — actually more important — than the event itself. All-Star games are parties. They’re supposed to be fun, but they shouldn’t devolve into mockeries.

As good as John Scott’s story was at last year’s NHL All-Star Game, he still had no business participating in that event and his inclusion was initially intended to mock the voting process, the game itself, and to mock the player. Scott’s Hollywood story just ended up being so compelling that people mistook that one-off reality as a road map for how the game should proceed.

Again, All-Star games should be fun, but they shouldn’t devolve into clown shows that mock a key component of the game, which is to reward players’ performances. That doesn’t mean All-Star games couldn’t undergo more tweaking. They should continually evolve to keep up with the changing sport, media and fan landscapes.

With that in mind, here are a few ideas that might be worth considering for upcoming NHL All-Star games.

VOTING RIGHTS

We don’t want the fan vote to be the sole factor in determining All-Star selections. That creates an unfair advantage for bigger markets like New York or Chicago (or a nation like China, in the NBA case of Yao Ming). We do want the fans to have a greater voice.

Here’s what we’d like to see. Fans get to vote once, but they can fill out an entire All-Star ballot for all four divisions (if that format remains). Their votes then become one-fourth of a system in which players, GMs and coaches, and media also get a vote. Each of those four voting blocks would be given equal weight in determining the All-Star games and we’d let them the team members determine the captain.

Democracy in action.

MODIFY POSITON REQUIREMENTS

A quick glance at this season’s rosters shows why this is important. Sure, you want to have two goalies, but in a 3-on-3 format that we like because it’s fun and exciting, does it really matter that there are six forwards and three defensemen? It’s a good idea to avoid position bias and prevent nine centers from being selected, but let’s make it OK to have just two defensemen or five forwards in that nine-player mix. We would, by the way, keep one representative from each team. That gives every fan base a deeper interest.

MAKE THE ANNOUCEMENTS COOLER

Simply announcing the rosters via the league’s media arms is dull. Let’s add some creativity. Don’t think national signing day when high school athletes pick from a number of hats on a table and voila, they have chosen their school. That’s a dull-witted cliché. Think Ice Bucket Challenge. Remember how crazy those got? Remember Paul Bissonette on a mountaintop in a Speedo beneath a helicopter? Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about.

Allowing teams to forge their own announcements would allow for multiple reveals and more publicity for the league, but the parameters of those reveals would only be limited by the creativity of each team’s media, public relations and marketing departments. A team could shoot a video to announce its selections(s). It could use social media or any other of a variety of methods.

ADD A SENTIMENTAL ROSTER SPOT

In the John Scott vein, it would be cool if the league allowed each team to add a player who carries sentimental value, whether because he has overcome adversity or he’s about to retire.

For Coyotes fans, imagine the emotions you’d feel if Shane Doan were to skate for the Pacific Division All-Stars. It could serve as a proper send-off or a proper celebration for guys who have meant more to the league, or those who have displayed excessive courage or resolve.

MAKE IT AN OUTDOOR GAME

We’re not convinced that the NHL should replace the Winter Classic with this game. Even though doing so would keep the Chicago Blackhawks from playing in every Winter Classic, we’re not sure the league should mess with a proven winner. The Winter Classic is cool. Leave it alone.

Instead, cut back some of those other outdoor games to avoid saturating the market. The All-Star game is a visual event so put it outdoors where the visuals are almost always spectacular. Then make sure it rotates to every NHL city. Even warm-weather climates deserve an outdoor game and Los Angeles proved it’s possible. But beware of that most annoying of inclement weather conditions: sunshine.

MODIFY THE SKILLS CHALLENGE

We mostly enjoy watching the skills competition, but we think the new four-line challenge sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. So… our shooters aren’t nearly as accurate from the other end of the rink as we thought. So, um, how do we distract our viewers from that unforeseen reality? Oh, look! A shiny thing!

Instead, let’s add more skills that people like to watch. How about a stickhandling competition? Seriously, who hasn’t watched that Patrick Kane video a half dozen times?

CHARITY

Tie each player to an individual charity with the league and corporate sponsors donating prize money to said charity based on the player’s performance in the skills challenge and the game. Publicize the heck out of it.

THE NUCLEAR OPTION

— Give all 31 teams (Vegas comes on board next season) an All-Star team of seven players (six skaters and a goalie) to compete in a 3-on-3 format over two days where games are 5 minutes long, with ties decided by shootouts.

Determining a winner will get a lot easier when the NHL adds its 32nd team (hello, Seattle) to balance out the brackets. Until that date, you could either do something crazy like inviting a KHL All-Star team to be the 32nd club or design a suitable format. In ours, the last two teams in the NHL standings compete in a play-in game to get to 30 teams.

Each conference’s leader (currently Washington and Minnesota) earns a first-round bye while the remaining 28 teams play each other in matchups determined by the standings.

Once you have eliminated 14 teams, you add in the conference leaders to get to the round of 16. The quarterfinals, semifinals and the final would be played on Day 2 that is now reserved for the actual All-Star Game. The winner gets a newly designed trophy (the All-Star Cup?) to display.

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How to make the NHL All-Star Game better