Improving the NHL All-Star Experience: From Kids to TikTok Stars

Rachel Doerrie presents her vision of a best-on-best NHL all-star skills competition, with a father/child and mascot game on the side.

OK, gather round. Bring it in. Can we all agree that the Home Run Derby and the Dunk Contest are awesome? Yeah? Cool. Can we agree that whatever we watched on Friday night, except the dunk tank, was in fact, not awesome? Very good. Seriously though, the Splash Shot was awesome.

So, here’s the thing. We all know the NHL all-star weekend isn’t great compared to MLB or NBA counterparts. But it’s not enough to say it isn’t good – we’ve got to have some solutions. One thing I really don’t like is when people consistently point out problems and don’t bring any potential solutions to the table. That’s not productive. In an effort to make this fun, I’ve got some tweaks for the NHL all-star weekend.

We hear MLB and NBA players talk about how they love their respective weekends because the leagues make it worth their while. Secondly, the NBA specifically is far more focused on what their fans actually want to see, how to incorporate it and most of all, make it an enticing event that players want to attend. My goodness, you have guys who aren’t even in the All-Star Game participating in the three-point and dunk contests. So, let’s talk about a few ways I think the NHL can get there.

Simplicity is key.

The fastest skater is the fastest skater. None of this weaving through cones and whatever else. Secondly, it doesn’t need to be a heat-type of contest. Everyone gets one go around the rink, and whoever has the fastest time wins. We don’t need a qualifier and a final. Sure, Andrei Svechnikov won. But does anyone believe he’s faster than Connor McDavid, Ilya Mikheyev or Kasperi Kapanen? How can you name someone the “fastest skater” when everyone knows the NHL’s fastest guys aren’t even participating? It becomes a charade. McDavid didn’t want to participate, and maybe, we should ask ourselves why. How can we make it, so he’s motivated to do it? Well, inviting the league’s fastest guys (actually) might be start.

Next is accuracy shooting. For the most part, I think the NHL has this one rolling. One small change. You got to hit four targets, and whoever does it with the least number of shots, wins. The tiebreaker is the time. Try explaining to a perspective fan that a guy who went 8-for-8 in accuracy didn’t win. It makes no sense. The contest is called accuracy, not the fastest shooter. A slight tweak putting accuracy at the forefront and using time as a tiebreaker would be great. If you really want to get fun, have four targets, and each player must knock them out using a wrist shot, slap shot, backhand, and one-timer.

The hardest shot is great, and that's probably why it’s the best event. Each guy gets two shots, they must hit the net and off we go. But once again, why are the NHL’s hardest shooters not there? Ovechkin and Elias Pettersson, yes. But Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos, Patrik Laine and Brent Burns are guys who should be there. Heck, PK Subban could rip it in his day, and he’s part of the broadcast. Involve him! Even better…the NBA invited a G-Leaguer to the dunk contest because he’s that good. The NHL should invite Martin Frk from the AHL, who registered 109.2 mph in the AHL competition.

The event that needs the most tweaking…the shootout. First, shootouts are silly, and much like the players asked over the weekend, I’d prefer extended overtime. But silly is what creates fun – which is what this weekend is supposed to be about. If you log onto TikTok, there is no shortage of highly skilled hockey guys like Pavel Barber and Zac Bell. Almost every person the NHL should be trying to reach is on TikTok, and even if they don’t like the NHL, they probably know who these guys are and may tune in.

We don’t need 21 props and costumes – unless you’re doing the Zegras dodgeball thing, we need skill. Have the TikTok guys take part in the shootout where the goal is not to make someone laugh, it is to drop jaws with your skill. I’ve seen guys like Mitch Marner, Patrick Kane and Jack Hughes in practice, they can make jaws drop. Encourage them to show off the moves they’d never be allowed to do in a game situation. Having the TikTok guys there would only encourage that because they’re going to want to outduel them. This should be the NHL’s version of the dunk contest: invite the very best. Every year, I want to see what guys like Trevor Zegras, T.J. Oshie, Hughes, Marner, Kane and Nick Suzuki come up with.

Now let’s have some fun.

I asked someone in the NBA why so many players want to participate. The biggest reason is that it’s not only a party, but it is fantastic for their kids. Social media has blessed us with mini-hockey player content. Kids love mascots. Whether it is televised or not, having a mascot and hockey kid crossover. The mascot game is awesome. Can we, perhaps, have a father/son/daughter game where mascots are goalies, refs and coaches?

Think about Sergei Ovechkin, Carter Stamkos, Nikita Malkin, the Tarasenko kids, Gunnar Horvat and Harlow Karlsson getting to play with their fathers, but also with the mascots. Admit it, we are all suckers for the mini-hockey player content. Remember Mason calling people old paint cans and yelling sausages? Remember Stamkos Jr. begging to go see the Zamboni? There’s a reason those went viral.

Let the kids and their fathers go out there, mic up a few of them, and you’ve probably got yourself some viral content. This isn’t for the broadcast; this is a way to make the weekend a fun experience for a family. Instead of taking your kid on vacation and skipping the All-Star Game, you may be more likely to accept the invite if you know that they will have an experience of a lifetime. Anyone who is willing to pay can meet Mickey Mouse – not everyone gets to skate with NHL mascots and their dads.

NHL teams do a great job of showing father/kid content throughout the season. Perhaps, the NHL can capitalize. The guys spend 50 percent of the season away from their families. You can’t blame them if they want to spend 10 days with them in February. But, if the NHL had some type of father/kid event that included things kids love the most, they may be more enticed to show up knowing the NHL cares about putting on an experience for the entire family.

Here's a freebie. Whatever content you get from this, be it mic’d up moments, behind-the-scenes moments, reactions to various things or just the cute moments, use that content on social media. It will do numbers – it always does. Call it something like Jr. All-Stars or Kids of the NHL. Remember when Brady and Matthew joined Keith Tkachuk almost 20 years ago? Now, they're in the NHL All-Star Game. So, if you want to branch off that…you can call it The Next Ones.

All-star events are supposed to be fun and entertaining. They are supposed to showcase the high-end skill that these athletes possess. The NHL can tweak a few events to do that. But if they really want to have success, they have to entice their best players to attend and be engaged. The easiest way to do that: make it a family experience for the guys with kids and a real party for guys who want to party. Either way, it needs to be something to look forward to as opposed to something that is necessary.