My Proposal on a Future NHL All-Star Set-Up

[Dobber]

The ratings for this year's NHL All-Star Game were a bomb.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...medium=twitter

And the ratings are dropping steadily. Fantasy Draft, too. I didn't watch the game or the draft. Nor did I watch the skills competition. I saw highlights of the latter, and kind of watched maybe five minutes of the game. That's it.

Issue with the skills competition - it's dragging out too long. Too many silly events mixed in. The NHL needs to play its strengths.
Issue with the ASG - the players are having fun, but the game is just a bunch of talented guys deking and passing pucks around some pylons. Use that strength.

The weekend itself is amazing in person. The hype, the player's approachability, the fun little games and booths that fans can visit. It brings in a lot of revenue for the city. And there is no shortage of media coverage and hype leading up to it. But as far as television goes - this weekend is a bomb. And there doesn't seem to be any way to fix it. But I have a couple of ideas.


How to tackle the Skills Competition

1. Let's get rid of the fluff and hustle this along. Reduce it to the four events we most care about: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Accurate Shot, and the Shootout. Put this into two hours and reduce the breaks in between each event and between each competitor.
2. Forget "teams". Enter the best of the best. Even if they don't make the All-Star team, if the player is the fastest skater on his team, get him in the competition.
3. The Skills competition runs Friday from 8pm to 10pm and has the Shot Accuracy Challenge from 8-8:30. The Shootout Challenge from 8:30-9. The Fastest Skater from 9-9:30. Hardest Shot from 9:30-10. Each competition features the best 16 players in the league, based on inter-team competitions from the week or two before. Let's see who the best is. The real best.
4. The Shootout Challenge would simply be "goal" or "save". No judge. No sunglasses. No swinging the stick like a baseball bat. Just try to score. Find the best shootout skater and goalie in the league. But loosen the rules so that fancy plays are "allowed" but really a player would just bother with them if it helps them score (such as the spin-o-rama).


How to tackle the All-Star Game

1. Pond Hockey, four-team Round Robin, 4-on-4.
2. Each team has 12 skaters and two goalies, puts four skaters on the ice for a shift
3. Teams are divided by division
4. Two 15-minute periods per Round Robin game. Two 20-minute periods for the Final.
5. Round Robin is six games. Saturday at 1pm there are three games that run, one each hour until 4pm. Saturday at 7pm are three games that run, one each hour until 10pm (EST)
6. Top two teams of the Round Robin (tie-breaker is goal differential, then goals-for) play in the Final
7. Final is Sunday at 2pm until 3:30pm or so.
8. Winner gets the Fan's Cup. A trophy made for this annual occasion. The teams in the winning division gets $500,000 of bonus cap space each for this year, which helps in any deadline deals.

The trophy would have an impact. Something to shoot for that gets trotted out there every year. The mini-tourney would also get the competitive juices flowing. And both players and management would love the added cap space. Because this competition is 4-on-4, the expectation is that it's wide open and a high-octane, loosey-goosey brand of hockey. It's already that way now, but under a pond hockey 4-on-4 format, it would be much more accepted. Players playing in the Final will end up playing in 130 minutes of hockey over two days, compared to the current 60 minutes. The games are short and spread out, though.

The goal is to make this an exciting weekend for TV viewers, while maintaining the hype live and in person.

[metaldude26]

And then there's my suggestion:

[Pengwin7]

Dodge puck.


Final answer.

Divide at center ice.
North Americans on one side.
Europeans on the other side.
Goalies for each side can only go back as far the blueline (i.e. must stay in neutral zone).
If they catch a shot clean, shooter is out.

Other than that - standard dodge ball rules.
You get hit, you are out.



Could you imagine Shea Weber bombing his shot towards other guys?

That. would be epic.

[JagrBomb]

great ideas dobber, the only thing I really disagree on is the shootout challenge:

4. The Shootout Challenge would simply be "goal" or "save". No judge. No sunglasses. No swinging the stick like a baseball bat. Just try to score. Find the best shootout skater and goalie in the league. But loosen the rules so that fancy plays are "allowed" but really a player would just bother with them if it helps them score (such as the spin-o-rama).

fans already hate the shootout. we can already tell who the best shootout player is by looking at stats as it's already tracked.

imo the shootout challenge needs to somehow mimic the NBA dunk competition. follow the same rules as the other competitions you listed, grab the best players who can do the most ridiculous/creative dekes. give them a score from 1-9, and an extra point if they manage to score.


I want to see gaudreau's stick light on fire. I want to see a guy pull moves you only see in practice. I have zero interest in seeing a marathon of guys just picking corners or doing high percentage dekes that most players can pull off.

[davidgoodburn]

Great ideas Dobber. Love the pond hockey tournament concept. Takes the game back to its roots a bit.

[ericdaoust]

Why not gather zambonis from all 30 teams and have a racing tournament?

[rataylor22]

Make the All-star game the only outdoor game each year.

[Dobber]

Make the All-star game the only outdoor game each year.

This. Great idea - takes my ideas to another level

Praba - you may be right. And if that's the case, I would remove it altogether and just have three categories and give each 40 minutes. But my idea could be revived when the go to regular season 10 minute OT and 3-on-3 halfway through (so shootouts become rare)

[glorybe23]

The ratings for this year's NHL All-Star Game were a bomb.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...medium=twitter

How to tackle the Skills Competition

1. Let's get rid of the fluff and hustle this along. Reduce it to the four events we most care about: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Accurate Shot, and the Shootout. Put this into two hours and reduce the breaks in between each event and between each competitor.
2. Forget "teams". Enter the best of the best. Even if they don't make the All-Star team, if the player is the fastest skater on his team, get him in the competition.

This is my favourite of the ideas and I could see the players more interested in attending if they know they could be labeled the ABSOLUTE fastest in the league, or the 3 other cats etc. Quite a few of the competitors would usually be left out of the ASG weekend and I'm sure most, like Brian Elliott, would jump at the chance to be included in some sort of capacity.

[Call of Doughty]

Ice girl challenges.

The 5 on 3, 3 on 2, 2 on 1, the butt-ending, the five-hole, closing the gap, the Gordie Howe, head-butting, the pepper pot, the poke check, the spin-o-rama, the shutdown pair, the fight strap, the bender and split the D.

[The Bottlenecker]

I love the pond hockey concept, and think any sort of monetary reward would put a little pressure on the teams / players to make it a bit more interesting. You are right, the current format for the ASG is like watching paint dry. I could play with them given how fast (or should I say slow) they are going.

Call of Doughty is right on to think the Ice Girls should get involved too. Kind of like the Super Bowl does the Lingerie Bowl. Instead of going to the penalty box after an altercation, girls involved would have to get into a pool filled with mud or oil or Jell-O would have to settle their differences the old fashioned way...if nothing else, the old pervs like me and C.O.D. would watch. Hahahahahaha

[Call of Doughty]

else, the old pervs like me and C.O.D. would watch. Hahahahahaha

I'm 37!! LOL

[Axeman33]

A buddy of mine just shared this video on Facebook. Take notice NHL!