Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner Wears NHL All-Star Weekend Skates at Maple Leafs Practice. The NHL All-Star Game is coming to Toronto. The league made the announcement today ahead of the NHL All-Star Skills competition taking place in South Florida. "I'm sure Toronto will love that," Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner told reporters during his media availability on Friday. "It's a city that loves the game of hockey and would love to have that come to their city. Toronto last hosted an NHL All-Star Game in 2000. The city was supposed to be one of the flagships for the World Cup of Hockey, which was initially planned to resume in February of 2024, following an eight-year hiatus. In November, the NHL and NHLPA put out a joint statement delaying the event for at least one more year. "Unfortunately, in the current environment it is not feasible to hold the World Cup of Hockey at that time,” the statement said. “We continue to plan for the next World Cup of Hockey, hopefully in February of 2025." Once that announcement was made, the process of finding an All-Star host began. Previous World Cup of Hockey events were held before the NHL regular season began in September. With the planned move to February, the NHL All-Star Game would be removed from the NHL calendar in the same way as it has been when the NHL participated in the Winter Olympics. The NHL hasn’t held an All-Star Game in a Canadian city since 2012 when the Ottawa Senators hosted the event. Six of the last seven All-Star Games have been held in sunny destinations, which the players generally seem to prefer.
