2017 NHL All-Star Game

With the 2017 NHL All-Star game just days away, the excitement is building.The weekend of festivities, which is taking place in Los Angeles, has already garnered a lot of anticipation and attention with the social media project of incorporating NHL stars into classic film posters.

Although the game proves to be a fun fan event each year, this year has already proven to be different. The NHL has decided to cut out the beloved draft in order to stick with a more formal format of having players represent their home divisions. Although this method is probably more practical and better for fans to pick teams, it is taking out a lot of the fun story line and anecdotes from the weekend. Now we won’t be able to see the banter between teammates and even rivals who are not picked in the beginning rounds. We definitely won’t be able to see the unbelievable amount of awkwardness of the last man sitting by himself in a sea of empty chairs, waiting to be picked.

What we will see is the fan loved Skills Challenge, which allows players to show off their personalities, and off course fine-tuned skills, which we may not get to see a lot of in the upcoming months in the march to the playoffs. In years past fans have been delighted with players dressing up as legends in order to compete in the breakaway challenge, as well as players acting almost as a father-son duo to win the most points for their team.

No matter what kind of shenanigans will happen at the skills challenge, the main gem of the weekend will be the all-star game itself, with four teams fighting for bragging rights for their respective division. Not to be out done, the captains will make sure they will be a story line within the weekend. Captains Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, P.K. Subban, and Carey Price will bring their intensity and desire to win to raise the stakes of the weekend.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I am really looking forward to the weekend of fun. This is the last time in the season we as fans will be able to see our favorite players lose and having fun. From this weekend on it will be all business for the league and the fight for playoff spots will commence. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how Pittsburgh Penguins and Metropolitan division captain acts in a less serious, especially since this will be one of the very few times he has participated in the action.