This is by far the worst all-star iteration across the four major North American sports. The NHL All-Star game is just around the corner, and I don’t think there’s one person who is excited for this abomination of an event.
The NHL all-star game is simply the worst all-star game that has ever been thought of.
Not only does it actively disqualify dozens of all-star caliber players with the stupid 11-man roster configuration per team, but it also overwhelmingly hurts defenders from being named to the all-star game given the way the fan vote works. Unlike every single other all-star/Pro Bowl voting system where fans vote for the best players in each position, the NHL all-star voting system has fans vote for the 11 best players in each division.
Yes, that means an all-star team could have nine forwards and two goaltenders if the fans voted for only offensive minded individuals (as they usually do), even though a defensive player may be having a better year than a said forward in question.
And that’s exactly the case this year as even though there have been 44 players named to the all-star game, only six of them are defensemen (Rasmus Dahlin, Adam Fox, Seth Jones, Cale Makar, Josh Morrissey, Erik Karlsson). That’s barely enough defenders to make up a regular game-day lineup.
Is the NHL really saying that there are only 6 all-star worthy defensemen playing in the league today? Did Victor Hedman, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, John Carlson, Roman Josi, Miro Heiskanen, Jacob Slavin, Quinn Hughes, Drew Doughty, Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, Brent Burns, Moritz Sneider, Douggie Hamilton, Noah Hanifin, etc. all drop off the face of the earth?
Surely, I can’t be the only one who sees this version of the all-star game as a huge middle finger to all defensemen.
Anyway, I know this may just be me nitpicking, but I also just can get over only having 11 players from each division play against one another? At the very minimum, there should be at least 26 representatives (of both critic and fan choice) from each conference, which would boil down to 13 players from each division. It’s not really an all-star game when you can just barley field a regular hockey team when you put two division together (most teams have 21 active roster players any given night).Â
Yeah, the benches might be a little crowded, but there have been plenty of all-star caliber players that have missed out on a career-altering game (all-star appearances does count towards Hall of Fame voting) because the voting is rigged for well-known, offensive players.
Still, at least the skill competitions are actually fun watching. Unlike the NFL’s dodgeball tournament or longest golf drive, which has no bearing on a player’s football talents, the NHL’s skill competitions hone right in on who is the fastest, most powerful, and most dynamic player in the game today.
Though, I would like to see the all-star game go back to the way it was nearly a decade ago where the East would face the West in a traditional hockey game, unlike how all four divisions currently face each other in a 3 vs. 3 Round Robin matchup.
To be honest, I don’t even know why I bothered writing this article as there’s no chance the NHL changes the all-star game.
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