I don’t think. Everyone wants to win – whether it’s a regular season game, a poker game on the plane, soccer games, etc. I think more of a problem is the player movement and familiarity with each other. When it was more common for players to stay with one team for a long time, they didn’t necessarily form friendships with players from other teams. Now they move around a lot, they form groups from many different teams that get together for training in the offseason, and they have a lot more in common with each other than any of them do with the fans. How can they get any real emotion about beating their friends in a meaningless game? I don’t think you really can.

Or, just drop the All-Star Game entirely and push the Winter Classic as the mid-season marketing tool. It’s a far better representation of the game, and better yet, it actually means something.

I was thinking about this earlier, and so many people want to fix the game by making it “count” or by making it more like “real hockey,” and as you pointed out that is very difficult because of the team chemistry. Generally you can’t just toss together three good players and instantly have a great line – if it was that easy, then no coaches would constantly shuffle lines searching for a proper fit.

Maybe instead of worrying about the all-star game per se, consider what has become the major function of the weekend – the corporate schmoozefest. The game is often awarded to a non-traditional market to try to get some attention for the team, but unfortunately by the midpoint of the season the local team may already be out of the playoffs and known to be horrible, so the marketing impact would be blunted. Players don’t want to go if they are injured and teams wouldn’t want players there if their participation could hurt the team for the rest of the season. Also, the best players are not always the most personable ambassadors of the game, possibly because they are cranky cusses, or because their English is horrible, or because they are just shy or introverted personalities. So what about this:

Move the all-star game to the preseason and require each team to send at least two players of their choosing to serve as their hockey ambassadors. That way the players would be healthy and free of nagging injuries because it is the very beginning of the season, the half-speed (at most) game would fit neatly into the exhibition season, teams could send their more conversational players, there wouldn’t be any shortage of true stars because teams would be looking more at nearly-ready minor leaguers, unsigned players on tryouts, etc. in games that more resembled competitions so no one would be shorthanded, and it would help the local team market itself. It could be a great kickoff to the season and a drive for pushing season ticket packages from the very beginning of the year instead of halfway through. They could also have a lot of activities for the kids and families and fan-centric events, like maybe a booth where fans could order any player jersey they wanted and have it sent to their home address so they wouldn’t have to carry it home if they were travelling, and the weather would be much nicer for travelling for fans, players, and media – wind-chill factors and the charts showing how long it takes exposed flesh to freeze solid that weather people take such a perverse joy in would not be needed in the fall. It could be a wonderful fan-fest and convention and skills display to really emphasize the new season that is just about to start, so get your tickets for opening night right now!

Might be better than the lamefest the all-star weekend is right now, maybe?