There’s a slight chance you watched or followed the All-Star Game this season, or in the past five seasons. That slight chance comes with being a passionate fan of the American Hockey League or being in the market at the time of the weekend (in this case, Rockford, Illinois). 

The All-Star Game and the weekend event are forgettable. Locals love it, and for a handful of people who cover the league, it’s a rare opportunity to see all of the best AHLers in one place. The product itself isn’t good, as players essentially put together a morning skate before heading back to their AHL teams. 

This isn’t just an AHL or a hockey problem. This is an issue across all sports. How can a game and an event that doesn’t matter and has no incentive for winning matter to the players? The leagues must find a way to make it significant, to add meaning to the event, to not only get the players to buy in but make it worthwhile. 

The NHL struck gold with the Four Nations Face Off in 2025. When it concluded with the Connor McDavid overtime goal, it looked like there was no going back for hockey. To some extent, that’s been the case with the 2026 Olympics and a World Cup in 2028. The NHL has a tough time returning to the traditional All-Star Game after seeing the intensity and quality of international competition. 

That international competition, the “us vs them” or “best-on-best” matchup, brings out the best in the players. The past two years put it on full display as the Four Nations set the tone, featuring three fights in nine seconds between Canada and the USA, while the Olympics confirmed it with the joy of USA victory and the agony of Canadian defeat. 

The NHL took notice, and it’s why the World Cup is coming in 2028 (the real surprise is that there’s no international competition this season). The AHL must look for its version of this. A Four Nations featuring Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the USA accomplishes this, while a World Cup adds more nations to the mix. 

There’s always a possibility that the players still don’t show up. The All-Star format was once the Canada All-Stars against the American All-Stars, and the games, while close, weren’t intense. It’s more likely, as recent years have shown, that representing a nation carries more weight (it’s also why North America against World matchups don’t bring out the best in players). 

Assembling the teams is the first tough task. Does the league allow the fans to vote or have a general manager make the team (would any AHL GM want this job considering how much work is already on their plates)? Fan participation is a big part of the AHL, and allowing the fan to have a say is a big part of the decision-making. So, instead of allowing the fans to vote for their team representatives, the assignment would be to create a Canada team, a USA team, and so on. 

This leads to another team-building issue. Are there enough players in the AHL from some of the smaller countries? If a World Cup features Czechia, Germany, Switzerland, or another country, icing a roster with 20 AHL players on it is a tough task.

Then there’s the Russian elephant in the room. Does the AHL want Russian players who participate in the All-Star Game to represent their nation? It’s an issue that all international competitions are still dealing with. 

Say the AHL figures all of that out and has four, six, or eight teams. The next issue is scheduling a competition on a weekend. The benefit of an All-Star Game and a skills competition the day before is that everything is completed in two days. A Four Nations-style competition needs at least one week, and a World Cup might need more. 

The best-case scenario for a Four Nations event is to host a three-in-three where the round robins take place, followed by a championship game three days later. While this takes up six days, it condenses the schedule enough to have the players back for the next weekend’s games (and besides, what’s the AHL without a three-in-three anyway). 

Another option is to make two or three teams the host cities, especially if it's a World Cup. A World Cup between eight nations, for example, can have the round-robin and playoff rounds hosted in two nearby markets (Hartford and Springfield or Lehigh Valley and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) and then one arena hosts the Final. 

If the AHL adopted this, every market would love to be the host. The weekend is already a draw for the city and the local fans. This would bring AHL fans and hockey fans in general from around the country to these games. 

The NHL is realizing the impact of international competitions and how it’s growing the game. Some might shrug at the AHL and say that the players won’t try as hard or have the same intensity because it’s not true best-on-best. Those who say that haven’t watched the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The AHL can put a city on the map for the weekend or a week if needed and allow fans to see the best prospects playing at a high level. An added benefit to these matchups is that they will prepare some prospects for the NHL’s intensity and future Olympic Games as well. 

Baseball saw the benefits of the All-Star Game when the games mattered, when the players cared. When the players on the National League hated the American League, specifically, because the AL was slow to integrate, the game mattered (and they won nearly every time in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s because of it). Baseball doesn't have that same intensity but they've noticed the value of meaningful international competition, making the World Baseball Classic their prime event every three years. Hockey has had the edge over other sports with international play and must make the most of it.