New York Rangers: The NHL all-star game is a waste of time

Much like most decisions made at the league level, the NHL all-star game misses the mark and doesn’t achieve its goal.

The nature of sports has dramatically changed over the past 30 years. The players make astronomical sums of money, owners are multi-billionaires and the business has become infinitely more cutthroat.  Something still lingering from the past across all leagues is all-star games.

Once upon a time when sports were a regionally consumed product, the all-star game represented an opportunity for the rest of the country to watch players it only heard of. Before cable television, satellites and Reddit streams, you could only watch your local team play or one national game per week.

In today’s social media-fueled world, the all-star game is pointless. Players play the game at half speed and don’t even want to be there. While the notion of being voted to the all-star game is a nice accolade, the players would much rather get the extra few days off like the rest of their teammates.

The NHL thought it could save the all-star game with a change in format to three on three with divisional based teams. However, after the first year in which veteran enforcer John Scott won MVP, it has struggled to have a point.

This is not a problem unique to the NHL, the NFL’s pro-bowl and MLB’s all-star game both have struggled to have much of a point. The players would prefer to have the time off to rest and recover. The brutal grind of a long season takes its toll on veteran players.

Take the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin’s choice to sit out the all-star game and take a one-game suspension rather than play. Someone of Ovechkin’s magnitude opting to miss a regular season game that counts so he can get a full week off like his teammates is a strong indictment of the idea itself.

Instead of playing an actual game, it should be a paper accolade similar to the all-pro or all-NBA team. The players would get important time to rest and spend time with their families instead of being dragged to a city for a week of media, the skills competition on Saturday night and the three on three tournament.

Much like the other league’s all-star games, the NHL iteration is just another example of the league’s ownership failing to recognize the inevitable. People’s desires for content regarding the league has changed and watching a half-speed game on a Sunday afternoon is not as fun as the event used to be.

There is probably a way to salvage the event in a way that the game could still exist, but the three on three tournament is not it. A game played too slow with just three players on the ice at a time means that there are constant breakaways and odd-man rushes.

Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers would be much better off skipping the event like Ovechkin than actually playing in the game. Nothing good can come from the Swede lacing up his skates and defending the goal of the Metropolitan Division.