On Tuesday, reports began surfacing that the 2016 NHL All-Star game would be receiving a facelift. At the crux of those changes was making the event a 3-on-3 tournament, resembling the recent overtime changes the league has implemented. On Wednesday, the NHL confirmed these changes on its official website:
The new format will divide the All-Star Game into three 20-minute games, with star players from each Division making up the four All-Star teams: Pacific, Central, Atlantic, and Metropolitan. The 2016 Honda NHL All-Star celebration will include the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition™ on Saturday, Jan. 30, and the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Tournament on Sunday, Jan. 31, where players will face off in a winner-take-all $1 million inter-division tournament.
More specifically:
* Each game in the three-game, 3-on-3 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Tournament will be 20 minutes in length.
* Teams will change ends at the 10-minute mark of each game. Games that are tied after 20 minutes will be decided by a shootout.
* The Central Division All-Stars will face the Pacific Division All-Stars and the Atlantic Division All-Stars will face the Metropolitan Division All-Stars in the two Semi-Final games.
* The winners of each semi-final game will play each other in the All-Star Game final to determine the overall tournament champion.
Additionally, ESPN reported the player fantasy draft is “expected to be scrapped because the players apparently didn’t want it back.”
Say this for the NHL: It’s doing its best to shake things up. It remains to be seen if the new changes work positively, but this is believed to be a step in the right direction. Overtime games have been far more entertaining because the 3-on-3 format encourages a more up-tempo, offensive-happy style of play. All-Star games can be dreadfully boring, too, since we live in a day and age where no one wants to get hurt (and understandably so).
The All-Star game is still a couple of months away, but these changes should make the halfway mark of the 2015-16 season a lot more fun.
(Via NHL)
