NHL All Star Game
| National Hockey League All-Star Game | |
|---|---|
| Status | active |
| Genre | sports event |
| Date(s) | January–February |
| Frequency | annual |
| Location(s) | various |
| Inaugurated | 13 October 1947 |
| Organised by | NHL |
The National Hockey League All-Star Game (French: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. The Game's proceeds benefit the pension fund of the players.
The NHL All-Star Game, held in late January or early February, marks the symbolic halfway point in the regular season, though not the mathematical halfway point which, for most seasons, is usually one or two weeks earlier. Since 2007, it is held in late January, the weekend before the National Football League's Super Bowl.
On November 18, 2015, the NHL announced significant changes to the All-Star Game format, starting with the 2016 game: instead of one game pitted against two teams, there would be four All-Star teams based on the league's four divisions, competing in a single-elimination tournament. The format of all three games in the tournament will be three-on-three, with 10-minute halves each. If a tie remains after 20 minutes, then it will directly go to a three-round shootout plus extra rounds as needed to determine the winner; there is no standard overtime. In 2016, the Atlantic Division All-Stars faced the Metropolitan Division All-Stars in one semifinal, while the Central Division All-Stars played against the Pacific Division All-Stars in the second semifinal. The winners of these two games then meet in an All-Star Game Final. Since 2017, the format was slightly changed: the division that wins the NHL All-Star Skills Competition during the previous night then gets to pick which team they will play first in the semifinals.
From 1947 to 1968, the All-Star Game primarily saw the previous season's Stanley Cup champions take on a team of All-Stars from the other clubs. There were two exceptions during this period: The 1951 and 1952 games instead featured two teams of All-Star players, one consisting of players on American-based teams and the other with players consisting of players on Canadian-based teams.
Beginning in 1969, the format was geographic with the Wales/Eastern Conference All-Stars played the Campbell/Western Conference All-Stars, where the "first team", or starting line, including the starting goaltender, voted in by fans, while the remainder of the teams' rosters are chosen by the NHL's Hockey Operations Department in consultation with the teams' general managers. Since 1996, the head coaches for the two All-Star teams have been the coaches of the two teams that are leading their respective conferences in point percentage (i.e. fraction of points obtained out of total possible points). Prior policy saw the two head coaches that appeared in the previous year's Stanley Cup Finals coaching the All-Star teams.
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