The All-Star weekend is the league's event to showcase the stars. The skills competition has always been a real highlight, but last night was the most boring event that I can remember.
It started with the player introductions, which was a joke. Hockey player introductions are the best, turn the lights out and turn the spotlights up. Not last night, it was skate out as a team and wave when announced, unless of course you were one of the top 100.
The NHL is trying to grow it's appeal, and that is great, but not at the peril of it's roots. Change is absolutely great, but keep some semblance of tradition. Hockey sells itself, just ask anyone who has ever witnessed a game live. They will tell you it is the best live event sport of any that they have ever witnessed.
The fastest skater competition got my ire once again. Last year we saw Dylan Larkin seemingly break Mike Gartner's 23 year lod record. I say seemingly because we that witnessed Gartner's record know that he did it from a dead stop, not a skating start as Larkin had. So fast forward to last night, we see Connor McDavid start from a dead stop and power around the ice with just amazing strides, only to miss Larkin's time by a couple tenths of a second.
It seemed like last year the NHL wanted that record broken and they got what they wanted. Of course the league took heat from the fans that knew Gartner and Larkin's races were not measured equally.
Time to return the fastest skater to the old format and not send the winner only to the reconfigured oval.
Here's hoping the 3 on 3 tournament is much better than the skills competition was last night. At least their is no John Scott, subplot to set up the winner this year.
It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!