Has NHL found right formula for All-Star Game?
NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood recalls seeing an NHL player last year exiting Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena angry that his team hadn’t qualified for the championship game of the league’s new three-on-three All-Star Game tournament.
“He was mad,” Flood said. “He is saying, ‘I want to be out there. I’m so mad that I’m leaving this building and not playing to win this event.’ I thought it was pretty cool.”
The NHL’s overhaul of the All-Star format made last year’s game the most watched during NBC’s association with the sport. The expectation is for more of the same when the three-on-three format is used Sunday at this year’s All-Star Game (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“Other sports now point to the NHL as the model for how to do an All-Star Game,” Flood said.
MORE NHL COVERAGE:
Some NHL stars are packing less punch this season; why?
What it's like to face shots from Alex Ovechkin
Before the format change, Team Toews defeated Team Foligno 17-12 in a 2015 game that lacked a competitive spark. High-scoring games with a low compete level had become a staple of All-Star games.
Weary of the lack of competition, NHL officials asked the NHL Players’ Association to agree to a format change that allowed players to be divided by division for a three-on-three mini-tournament. Three-on-three is also used in NHL overtimes during the regular season.
“In the first game, you saw (Boston Bruins center) Patrice Bergeron going the length of the ice to backcheck and break up a play,” Flood said. “That didn’t happen in the old All-Star Game.”
Instead of watching pickup-style hockey, fans saw the Atlantic Division defeat the Metropolitan Division 4-3 in a highly contested 20-minute semifinal. The Pacific Division beat the Central Division 9-6 in the other semifinal. Then the Pacific defeated the Atlantic 1-0 in a memorable final.
“Five-on-five is a battle and a very physical game,” Nashville Predators general manager David Poile said. “Because players didn’t want to get injured, it changed the game and made it a high-scoring, ineffective format. The three-on-three format allows players to do what they can do. Because it’s hard to hit anybody three-on-three, it allows skilled players to do their thing. That’s why it’s exciting, just like (regular-season) overtime is exciting.”
Last year’s game had an added layer of intrigue because fans selected little-used tough guy John Scott to be captain of the Pacific team. He ended up scoring twice and being named MVP. The NHL tightened rules this year to prevent fans from voting a player into the game as a prank. Fans won't have a built-in rooting interest as they had last year, but the competition should still be high quality.
Bergeron, who wasn’t named to this year’s game, said players were happy to play a more competitive format.
“Guys are competitive and you want to win,” Bergeron said. “The previous years, it wasn’t good hockey. The fans weren’t really happy. They changed the format to make it more interesting and get the guys to give everything they got.”
The issue for players has always been the injury factor. Given how tight every playoff race has been in the salary cap era, no player wanted to risk injury in a game that didn’t matter in the standings. The three-on-three format can be played at high speed with less chance of getting hurt.
The NHL gave each team’s players a bye week during the regular season in exchange for the union accepting the format.
“I think that was the perfect thing to do,” Bergeron said. “I think (the competitiveness) will keep going.”
In NHL overtimes, teams have tried to play more defensively because it’s sudden death. Because one goal won’t end an All-Star Game, teams have license to play more wide open. It’s not a given that players will play as defensively as they did last season.
“If I were a betting man, I would think scores will be higher this season,” Poile said.
Young Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, making his first All-Star appearance, said he believes players want to put on a competitive show to make it more enjoyable for fans.
“Once you get into three-on-three, it’s man-on-man,” Jones said. “There’s not a lot of switches. That’s why goals may not be as high as you would think. High scoring or not … it’s going to be exciting either way. Guys are going to try hard.”
