The All-Star format, and the Calgary Flames’ representatives, have changed over the years

Photo credit:Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

6 months ago

The National Hockey League announced the first 32 participants in the 2024 All-Star Game festivities on Thursday, including Elias Lindholm as the representative of the Calgary Flames. The 2024 edition of the event, emanating from Toronto, features a tweaked format as the league tries to find the sweet spot of stars and setting to make the event an entertaining spectacle.

Here’s a look back at the formats, and Flames, involved in the All-Star Game during the Salary Cap Era.

The conference versus conference era

The NHL emerged from the lockout with a very status quo All-Star format: players from each conference formed teams and played a 60-minute five-on-five game against each other.

2007: The West beat the East 12-9 (in Dallas)

Miikka Kiprusoff and Dion Phaneuf were named to the West’s reserves.

2008: The East beat the West 8-7 (in Atlanta)

Jarome Iginla was voted a starter and named the West’s captain. Phaneuf was also voted one of the West’s starters.

2009: The East beat the West 12-11 in a shootout (in Montreal)

Iginla was named to the West’s reserves.

The player draft era

With all the player movement from year to year, it started to become evident that there wasn’t a ton of emotional resonance with the conference format. So in an effort to liven things up, the league kept the five-on-five, 60-minute game format but allowed the players to vote for team captains, and then those captains would choose teams.

Pros: a chance for goofiness and personality among players. Cons: somebody gets picked last.

2011: Team Lidstrom beat Team Staal 11-10 (in Raleigh)

Iginla was named to this year’s game, but withdrew due to family reasons before the event.

2012: Team Chara beat Team Alfredsson 12-9 (in Ottawa)

Iginla was named to this game and drafted by Team Chara.

2015: Team Toews beat Team Foligno 17-12 (in Columbus)

Mark Giordano was named to the game and drafted to Team Toews. Johnny Gaudreau was initially named to the game as one of the rookies taking part in the skills competition, but was promoted to the actual game (and drafted to Team Toews) after a slew of injuries. Gaudreau ended up replacing Sidney Crosby.

The three-on-three divisional era

The league shuffled things up again, in response to the fan response to three-on-three overtime. Rather than have conference-based teams, or teams drafted by players, they went to a divisional format. Four divisional teams would compete in a day-long three-on-three tournament for bragging rights (and money).

2016: Pacific beat Atlantic 1-0 to win tournament (in Nashville)

Gaudreau and Giordano were part of Team Pacific.

2017: Metropolitan beat Pacific 4-3 to win tournament (in Los Angeles)

Gaudreau was part of Team Pacific.

2018: Pacific beat Atlantic 5-2 to win tournament (in Tampa Bay)

Gaudreau was named to Team Pacific. Mike Smith was added to Team Pacific as an injury replacement for Jonathan Quick.

2019: Metropolian beat Central 10-5 to win tournament (in San Jose)

Gaudreau was named to Team Pacific. Due to the Flames being the divisional leaders before the All-Star break, Bill Peters was named Team Pacific’s coach.

2020: Pacific beat Atlantic 5-4 to win tournament (in St. Louis)

Matthew Tkachuk and Giordano were named to Team Pacific. David Rittich was added to Team Pacific as an injury replacement for Darcy Kuemper.

2022: Metropolitan beat Central 5-3 to win tournament (in Vegas)

Gaudreau was named to Team Pacific.

2023: Atlantic beat Central 7-5 to win tournament (in Sunrise)

Nazem Kadri was named to Team Pacific.

The player draft three-on-three era

The 2024 All-Star Game will be the first of a wacky new format that combines the goofy fun of the player draft with the on-ice chaos of three-on-three hockey. Four captains will be selected from the 44 selected (and fan-voted) All-Stars – though it’s unclear if the NHL will choose them or the players will – and they’ll choose teams of 11 and compete in a three-on-three tournament.

Which NHL All-Star Game format do you prefer? Are you excited for the return of the player draft? Let us know your ideal All-Star set-up in the comments!

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