NHL announces All-Star Game changes
Philadelphia Flyers news on Philly.com
NHL announces All-Star Game changes
RALEIGH, N.C. -- As the NHL schedule moves into it's second month, the NHL announced changes to the All-Star game that were formally approved by the general managers at yesterday's meeting in Toronto.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, as the defending Eastern Conference champion, will coach one of the teams.
Here are all of the details, as per the NHL's press release:
There will be a new look to the events of the 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend, the National Hockey League (NHL®) and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) announced today. The conference vs. conference format will be replaced by a player draft, conducted by the All-Star players themselves, to determine the composition of the teams for the 2011 NHL All-Star Game presented by Discover as well as the Honda NHL SuperSkills®.
"The goal of the All-Star format change was designed to make the game more fun for everyone involved. By giving the players more input on team selection, as well as Skills Competition match-ups, we feel the 2011 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft will inject more excitement and intrigue into all the events surrounding All-Star weekend,” said Brendan Shanahan, Vice President Hockey and Business Development for the NHL.
The 2011 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft format, which will continue to include fan balloting procedures, contains the following new features:
· Fans will continue to play the lead role in the selection of All-Stars when 2011 NHL All-Star Fan Balloting presented by XM launches on Monday, Nov. 15. The All-Star Balloting process, which is entirely digital for the fourth consecutive game, runs through Jan. 3.
· From a group of 100 players on the ballot, fans will vote for their top six All-Stars by position without regard to the Conference in which the player plays. Fans will also have the ability to write-in a player of their choice.
· The three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie receiving the most votes will be named the first NHL All-Stars.
· The remaining 36 All-Stars will be named by the NHL Hockey Operations Department for a total of 42 All-Star players (3 goalies, 6 defensemen and 12 forwards per team).
· Following the selection of the All-Stars, NHL Hockey Operations will designate 12 NHL rookies to participate in the Honda NHL SuperSkills on Saturday, January 29 for a total of 54 NHL players taking part in All-Star weekend.
· After the 42 NHL All-Stars have been selected, two captains will be chosen per team by the players.
· On Friday, January 28, 2011, a draft event will be held in Raleigh with all 54 NHL players (42 All-Stars and 12 rookies) during which the captains will draft the remaining members of their respective teams.
· First selection in the draft will be determined by coin flip and selections will continue on an alternating basis.
· Each team will be required to select three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards in any order they choose.
· After the selection of the All-Star game rosters, the captains will select among the 12 rookies to fill out the rosters for the Honda NHL SuperSkills.
· Each team will feature six rookies participating in various skills competitions.
· Teams will participate in six different skills, including NHL Fastest Skater, NHL Breakaway Challenge, Accuracy Shooting, Skills Challenge Relay, NHL Hardest Shot and the NHL Elimination Shoot Out.
The 2011 NHL All-Star Game presented by Discover will mark the first time Carolina has hosted NHL All-Star activities. The League’s mid-season spectacular will take place Saturday, January 29 and Sunday, January 30 and will include Honda NHL SuperSkills and the 58th NHL All-Star Game presented
by Discover at RBC Center. Live television coverage of both nights will be provided by VERSUS in the U.S. and CBC and RDS in Canada. The Honda SuperSkills will begin at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, and the 2011 NHL All-Star Game presented by Discover will start at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter (http://twitter.com/DNFlyers).
Comment removed.
That's a lot of changes for something no one will watch.— Keyser Soze
I'll watch Keyser. A hockey fan loves to watch hockey...just sayin'— Neebo- that's cool..me likey!— SWP
- I love the idea....I don't know if I will watch but I think the idea of very cool— crkreg
- They shouldnt have a game at all. This is one sport that people would watch a pure skills competition. Nobody watches the game because all it is an assault on goaltenders as no hitting or defense is played— rvb2321
- I'll watch it for sure— ChrisM
- How do you think the guy who gets picked last is gonna feel?— Philly Ray
- Love it.— mikemas55
- I don't like leaving it up to the 2 captains to pick. Include the coach in the decision.— P Even
- @SWP where r u from in sw. and is ur name bob?— eglftbl1
Sweet...but I would rather hang out and people watch at walmart...lol lol lol— The Philly Shadow- I'm a hockey fan and I won't watch the All star game...because it's not hockey. It's pond hockey or shinny. There's no defense, no hitting and no passion. Pick-up hockey is fun to play, but it sucks watching it. That's all the ASG is.— JSaq
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- So let me get this straight: there will no longer be "conference teams"...there'll be a pool of players and the captains pick from the pool. How do fans choose which team to root for, since their favorites could end up on two different sides? Let's face it, we root for uniforms. This would appear to ignore the fact. Sounds like more fun for he players and no connection with the fans. Maybe Bettman should ask his mentor David Stern how to salvage this?— sprint59
- I think it's a really solid idea and whoever is picked last will probably laugh a bit and also probably feel a bit lame, as those from grade school probably felt. Something has to be done with all of the major sports' all-star games and I'm glad to see the NHL be the first one to act. In all honestly, it's either going to be a huge success and the players will perhaps enjoy it more, or it'll flop. At the very least, it will get people talking about hockey which is something the NHL desperately needs.— aisaac
- I'm surprised Bettman hasn't already turned the All Star game into team Cindy and team Alex playing each other. Oh wait, that's the Winter Classic. Well, maybe he can continue the trend next year after this year's All Star Game flops.— Kanayd
