Absolute Clown Show....

Started with the McJesus knickname segment and somehow only got worse.

The philosophy of pandering.

ESPN will have zero positive impact on hockey. It will only set it back. Having Brad whatever his name is calling games is akin to Harry Caray calling a chess match.

ESPN trying to Wake hockey is akin to Nike trying to enter the board sports apparel market in the early 2000's.

Efforts fall flat on the deaf ears of the faithful. Their brand and logo repel and do not attract the fans.

Hockey does not need to pander. It will always have a dedicated fan base, not swayed by current woke environment. The fan base, while smaller in size, is affluent. In fact, you could grow the game and ESPN can earn fans respect, if they simply featured the players, their stories, and their talents. Instead, they choreograph a Disney on Ice show.

I can not believe that nonsense got out of committee.

Hated it! If players don't care about winning and competing hard, why as a fan should I invest any of my time into it? Its really unwatchable!

Each year it has become more and more hokey. This is the first year I didn't watch. Had literally anything else to do.

i forgot it was even on so i guess that counts as it sucks.

The commentators ruined any sort of originality or possible "that was neat" moments in EVERY SINGLE EVENT. I could have watched all of it with only the players talking to each other.

All Star games in general are just boring now. Maybe some kinda of substantial monetary reward or something.

Personally I would rather have the NHL take a week, refresh and kill it for the last half of the season. Give everyone a rest.

Eklund: I loved the All-Star Weekend. Does ANYONE out there agree with me?
- Eklund

I'm going to give you a serious answer here:

Much like it's entire history, the NHL never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

This weekend was a dead weekend on the sports schedule. So why not fill it up with NHL rivalry games, so that people could actually watch good hockey and maybe take more of an interest in the sport?

Leafs vs. Habs.

Battle of Florida.

Detroit vs. Colorado (and flood the airwaves prior with Draper vs. Lemieux docs and hype).

Battle of Alberta.

Battle of New York.

You get the idea.

Instead, we got something totally unwatchable.

And one further note: the event is not "for the kids." It's for the sponsors of the league. Seems to me they could be wined and dined at an outdoor game instead, so we never have to watch this poop again.

Should scrap this stupid event because it doesn’t resemble hockey at all

Its nothing but a cringe fest. The whole skills competition was brutal

Open up the Skill Competition to non-All Stars and go back to the usual traditional competitions. I think fans would like to see tangible "proof" of who has the hardest shot, who is the fastest skater, etc... in the league. Let the players vote on who should be there that isn't already part of the ASG.

They should leave the breakaway competition but ditch the stupid costumes, pre-recorded bits, and guest appearances. The NHL botching a competition that could have unlimited exposure of ridiculous trick moves on social media, etc... is terrible. It's free advertising for their product. And that's coming from someone who doesn't really care about any of that stuff.

Go back to East vs. West in one All-Star game and do it 5v5. 3 goalies, 6 defensemen, 12 forwards per team. That's 42 total All-Stars. They can keep the "at least one player from every team" thing and still have space for 5 additional players per team that deserve to be there. Or do only 2 goalies and then you get 6 additional players on each team.

No, it was damn near unwatchable. I stayed with it for about 45 minutes and had to eject. The events, especially the new ones were too carny, and ESPN's broadcast was disjointed at best.

The NHL really needs to take a hard look at this event overall and decide whether an NHL All-Star game is even worth it anymore. The 3 on 3 games weren't much better. Guys going half or 3/4 speed in a 3 on 3 game no less just isn't entertaining or worth watching.

Its a waste of time ! Use this break as the trade deadline. Even the players don't want to be there. This is not hockey

They lost me when they turned the breakaway skills competition into a vaudeville act.

no