Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The attention, passion and effort we’re seeing at the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off is pretty refreshing.
There just hasn’t been enough of all this at the league’s recent All-Star Game weekends.
There was a time when the All-Star Game meant something special, but that doesn’t happen much, if at all, anymore. Now that the NHL has found an event that has more connection to fans and players alike, it’s time to move on from a gimmicked game.
When this writer grew up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, you could see why the NHL All-Star Game was a must-see event. There was no satellite TV in those days, so one of the few chances fans got to see players from a different NHL conference was thrilling indeed.
Because there was no NHL participation in Olympic games back then, there were no dream teammates put together anywhere else but the All-Star Game. It was unique and exotic, and it led to achievements, such as Wayne Gretzky scoring four goals in the third period in 1983 to win his first of three career All-Star Game MVP honors.
However, slowly but surely, the NHL All-Star Game lost its luster. Over time, we became more familiar with every top player in the league. Players changed teams with more frequency, and high-profile events saw dream collaborations, such as Gretzky and Mario Lemieux teaming up to make unforgettable memories in the 1987 Canada Cup. Then, in 1996, the World Cup of Hockey was born, offering fans a different opportunity to see a true best-on-best tournament. And in 1998, the NHL gave the green light to Olympic participation.
Eventually, the event doesn’t shine as it used to. While NHL stars have to endure monotonous interviews with reporters and All-Star Games that have no true competitive fire to them, lesser-talented NHL players get to go on vacation for the break and rest their minds and bodies.
That is a much-needed respite, especially when the NHL’s regular-season schedule became rather compressed, and the speed of the sport leads to all sorts of injuries.
It was no wonder then that Tampa Bay Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov looked like he was having teeth pulled during the skills competition in Toronto in 2024. Other players came to Kucherov’s defense by saying he had no chance of winning his challenge after an early mistake, but it was clear there wasn’t much effort.
The All-Star Game also has a distinct lack of physicality. Hockey fans want to see passion and sacrifice from their favorite players, but those players know their primary commitment is to their NHL team, and not at an All-Star Game that doesn’t give them the reward a Stanley Cup victory does. They understandably won’t bodycheck or try to block a shot as a result, creating another disconnect between the product the fans want to see and the product they do see.
As we’re seeing this week, having the chance to represent their country at the 4 Nations Face-Off and at the 2028 World Cup of Hockey resonates much more with players than an All-Star Game appearance does. You could see it in the first 4 Nations games this week – there was a drive and urgency to their play.
Putting an end to the All-Star Game doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The NHL’s evolving. The league and NHL Players’ Association plans to hold a World Cup of Hockey every four years with the Olympics happening in between. There could be international best-on-best hockey every two years as a result.
From that perspective, the league should consider removing the mid-season break in years without international hockey competition. They could spread out the regular season a bit more so that all players can better recover between matches, improving the action even more. When the World Cup or Olympics arrive, the hype will be even greater.
Of course, there is still a case to be made for holding an All-Star Weekend. The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy said the innovation of the skills competition has been interesting to watch, and it gives players who aren’t in international competitions a chance to appear at a marquee event and show off their skills.
With that, the NHL could consider holding a skills competition the day before a World Cup of Hockey, for example. But whatever happens, hockey fans will hope any all-star event comes close to the type of action going on in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Let’s remember the genesis of the All-Star Game when it became an annual tradition beginning in 1947-48. The format at that time – in the Original Six Era – was that the defending Cup champions played against a group of players from the league’s five other teams. But over time, that changed, and no one complained about the evolution. Change was necessary and embraced, and that same attitude ought to be how we look at where the All-Star Game is at today.
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Related: Which 4 Nations Face-Off Roster Is The Priciest? Breaking Down The Combined Payrolls
