Avry Lewis-McDougall wants three parts of NHL All-Star Weekend back for next season after missing the cut in Toronto. Trevor Zegras paid homage to the film Dodgeball with a blindfolded deke during the 2022 NHL All-Star Game Skills Competition in Las Vegas. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzNjYxNDQ4NDI4MTM2Mzc5/usatsi_17620139.jpg] Trevor Zegras paid homage to the film Dodgeball with a blindfolded deke during the 2022 NHL All-Star Game Skills Competition in Las Vegas. Next week, the NHL kicks off the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto from Feb. 1 to 3. A third day to the event returns this year with the all-star fantasy player draft and the PWHL 3-on-3 showcase. The NHL often experiments with the weekend, adding some features while removing others and bringing back some events before removing them again. With the draft returning after positive feedback during its existence, what other events missing from this year could make a comeback one day and stick? THE YOUNGSTARS GAME From 2003 until 2009, the NHL had a fun way of getting its future stars involved in the weekend. Every year, two teams of young stars – split up into either West versus East or Rookies versus Sophomores – took part in a shortened game. Ilya Kovalchuk, Ryan Miller and Phil Kessel were among those who took part in the games. They were always high-scoring and fast thanks to the rule changes that limited downtime, such as only one faceoff per period. Young borderline-elite players like a healthy Connor Bedard would have been taking part in the main Sunday game. An event next year for youngsters like Logan Cooley, Marco Rossi and Leo Carlsson certainly would be a fun watch. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA9Xrqu_W3Y[/embed] THE SKILLS COMPETITON BEING A TEAM-BASED EVENT This year's event will be 12 individual players taking part in All-Star Skills. It's another year of the skills competition not keeping score for the teams, something that hasn't been done since 2017. If the plan going forward is limiting the number of players in the skills competition to a select few rather than every player taking part, it can still involve team implications with three to four players per squad. Whatever team wins the competition can pick which opponent they play first on Sunday or whether they'd rather play first or second. An additional twist could even be letting the winning team in the skills competition start the All-Star Game with an opposing player of their choice in the penalty box. THE BREAKAWAY CHALLENGE The one event that always generates eyeballs and has shown the most personality out of players has been the breakaway challenge. It's a bit odd not to see it as a part of this year's festivities in Toronto. The event has given us some of the funniest and the most creative breakaway attempts. In terms of presentation, Mitch Marner went full Miami Vice [https://youtu.be/oyZJfGHRdrc?si=EkBrB8ptvpcZKv9O] last year during the event in Sunrise. In terms of presentation and breakaway skill, there's Trevor Zegras paying homage to the film Dodgeball [https://youtu.be/lI2uTALeMQg?si=YKbfjqF2evrcgTmD] and Alex Ovechkin's outrageous attempt [https://youtu.be/OCnhO_AXe1Y?si=Ln3m8NNX1UpLTZ2f] in Montreal in 2009. It would have been great to see this event return with skill and style in Toronto, but hopefully, it comes back in whatever market gets the 2025 game.
