{coyotes} Report: NHL All-Star Game to scrap format, be 3-on-3 tournament

 

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Every few years, the NHL likes to mix things up with their All-Star Game format, and according to TSN's Bob McKenzie, changes are coming for 2016.

McKenzie reported Tuesday night on Insider Trading that this January in Nashville the NHL will implement three 20-minute 3-on-3 divisional tournaments in lieu of a 60-minute 5-on-5 game.

They will also reportedly forgo the fantasy player draft run by a crew of individual team captains.

What to expect from the All-Star Game appears to be as follows: Each division (Metropolitan, Central, Pacific and Atlantic) will be made up of nine or ten skaters and two or three goaltenders. The two Eastern Conference divisions (Atlantic, Metropolitan) and Western Conference divisions (Pacific, Central) will face off in a 20-minute, 3-on-3 game. The winning division from each side will then play a final game to determine an All-Star Game champion.

McKenzie reports the Players' Association has just signed off on the format and the NHL is expected to make a formal announcement of the plan on Wednesday.

As interesting as the reported changes could be, it will be sad to say goodbye to some of the silly antics that have been a hallmark of the fantasy draft in recent years. Who could forget Phil Kessel being selected last in 2011, the first year there was a fantasy draft, and Alex Ovechkin gleefully snapping his photo (or, for that matter, Ovechkin angling to be chosen last in 2015 so he could get a car)? Or when Nick Foligno, a team captain, traded Tyler Seguin for Kessel last year, a nod to the real-life trade that took place involving those players?

The All-Star Game is meant to be fun, for fans and players. Time will tell if the new format carries on the tradition.

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