TORONTO — Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin? Drew Doughty or Duncan Keith? Jaroslav Halak or Jonathan Quick?
The dream team choices of thousands of fantasy hockey drafts will be a reality for two NHL all-star captains under sweeping new changes to the league’s All-Star Game format, beginning with this season’s game in Raleigh, N.C.
“We’ve worked for a little while now on this idea and this concept closely with the NHL [Players Association],” said Brendan Shanahan, a former all-star turned NHL executive. “They like the idea, some of the players they’ve talked to, potential all-stars. They seem energized by it.”
Neither Shanahan nor the general managers who were sworn to secrecy after being briefed on the policy at Tuesday’s GM meeting in Toronto would comment on the precise changes.
But according to sources, the the conference-vs.conferece format will fall by the wayside. Fans will vote to determine starting lineups, with the NHL’s operations department choosing the rest of the rosters. All selected players will vote for two captains from their ranks, and the captains will draft their teams from the all-star pool.
The same sources also suggested the league will scrap the Young Guns competition in favour of including young players in the main All-Star Game and skills competitions.
“It’s still going to have the look and feel of an all-star weekend, skills competition and a game,” Shanahan said. “We’re not trying to make it into anything else.”
What the league and the NHLPA are trying to do is give the often non-competitive game a little more intensity.
“There’s always a moment in the All-Star Game … in Montreal, that last couple minutes in OT was fantastic,” Shanahan said. “The players wanted to win, they were having fun with it and we were all benefiting from it.”
The proposed rule changes, which first surfaced at meetings last year, would involve adding an element of pride to the All-Star Game. But, according to Shanahan, there would be no new prize of either cash or home-ice advantage in the playoffs, a twist added by Major League Baseball for the winning league in its All-Star Game.
“I know the Edmonton Oilers were famous for the ping pong tournaments that they used to have, guys were twisting ankles and things like that,” he said. “So for me, the way to capture the competitiveness of a player in an All-Star Game is not necessarily to make that carrot any bigger, it’s just a matter of tapping into their natural competitiveness and making it something that’s fun for them as well as for the fans.”
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke also declined to discuss specifics but did allow that he supported the proposed changes.
“We have to try to make it a more meaningful and a more competitive game,” Burke said. “It’s a great sponsor event to reward some of our sponsors with entertainment at that event. For the host city, it’s a wonderful treat for the season-ticket holders, but if we could produce a more competitive game we would be in favor of that. We would support any kind of change that would support a more competitive game.”
New Jeresey general manager Lou Lamoriello seemed to agree. “As long as change is good, it’s good — not to be a Yogi,” he said. “But I think it’s positive … every year you try and make the All-Star Game a little better. From everything I’ve heard it will be exciting.”
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