Why The NHL Needs To Keep It Simple When It Comes To All-Star Weekend

The NHL has finally hit the All-Star break as the hockey world will descend on Las Vegas, Nevada for the annual All-Star weekend festivities that include the skills competition and game itself. But over the years the game itself has become lacklustre. Outside a few moments that stand out. For example, Owen Nolan‘s goal “Called Shot” goal on Dominik Hasek in 1997, and Ray Bourque‘s game-winner in 1996. And a few other moments, but lately, however, the game has been totally unwatchable.

Not only that the NHL ruined the one event fans wanted to see. The skills competition itself as it was the highlight of NHL All-Star Weekend. Fans look forward to the skills competition. Lately, however, the NHL is trying too hard when it comes to the skills competition. And sure they came up with a cool concept for the accuracy shooting contest incorporating the Bellagio fountain, but what was wrong with the old format. Because what happens when the first player struggles with trying to get 21. It will be like with the Puck Control Realy or the Premier passer. When players struggle fans do not want to watch.

Sometimes less is more. And outside two events, the skills competition is has become boring. As the old saying goes, keep it simple stupid. This is something the NHL needs to adopt when it comes to the NHL Skills Competition.

Keep the All-Star Weekend Simple

Now, like most people who follow professional sports, there is an appetite to get rid of all the All-Star Games period. That is in a perfect world of course. However, from a business perspective, the NHL will not get rid of the All-Star Game as is a revenue stream for the league. Like the Winter Classic, the All-Star Game is an event for fans and sponsors. The product on the ice is not the greatest or has not been in a long time. And regardless of whether or that happens or not fans will still show up to support the game and see their favourite players on the ice.

Mostly they watch to see the skills competition to see what the favourite stars will do.  But instead of making things better, the league has actually made things worse. As a matter of fact, they have turned fans off from watching the event, because they have complicated the events that fans really loved. Maybe the NHL should take a page out of the American Hockey League playbook when it comes to their All-Star weekend.

The AHL has the core events fans want to see. Fastest Skater, Accuracy Shooting, Hardest Shot, Breakaway Relay, and the old version of the Puck Control Relay. That is all you need. In fact, you could do just the main four events. It does not need to be any more than that. Not only would the event go quicker, but these are the events fans want to watch.

If you look at the NBA All-Star Skills Competition, the two staple events are the Three-point shooting contest and the Dunk Contest. They are simple. Fans love watching their favourite players in action shoot 3s and come up with some creative dunks. The NBA does not need fancy bells and whistles to sell their sport during a break in their schedule. Similar to MLB when it comes to the Homerun Derby. There does not need to be extra events or anything like that. Simple is always better.

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Now one thing the NHL is doing that is cool is inviting players to participate in the skills competition that will not participate in the game itself. The NBA does this, especially for three-point shooters and the Slam Dunk contest. But this year the NHL has invited Trevor Zegras to participate in the Breakaway Challenge. He is not the only one. Though Zdeno Chara turned down the invitation, the NHL wanted him there to participate in the Hardest Shot competition. The St. Louis Blues invited back Al MacInnis back to take part in the Hardest Shot competition in 2020 and the place went nuts.

We all know the NHL All-Star Weekend is about money. But it is also about the product as well. You want fans to tune in. While Nathan MacKinnon is right it should be the best players, we know why a player from each team is selected. So those markets tune in. Maybe they would tune it if it was the best players. Who knows. One thing is for sure the NHL needs to keep All-Star Weekend simple as they continue to overcomplicate things with both the game and skills competition.