NHL officially announces a three-on-three tournament for All-Star Game
By @MichaelCaples –
The 2016 NHL All-Star Game will be quite different than its predecessors.
The league officially announced tonight that their All-Star Game will be a three-on-three tournament, featuring four 11-player rosters for each of the NHL’s divisions.
Each team will have six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders, and they will compete in three 20-minute games. The division-based clubs will be competing for a winner-take-all $1 million to split between their 11 players.
The 2016 Honda All-Star Skills Competition, taking place the night before, will return to a showdown between the Eastern and Western Conference.
“The NHL All Star Weekend festivities provide a unique opportunity for our fans, Players, Clubs, and business partners to come together in one city to celebrate the game at its highest level,” said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. “We are introducing a creative new format this year in Nashville not only as a way to enhance the competitiveness of the event, but also as a vehicle to highlight and emphasize the incredible skill, speed and athleticism it takes to play our game.”
Fans will select one player for each of the four divisional teams, and that player will serve as captain for their squad. The remainder of the rosters will be selected by the NHL Hockey Operations Department.
More details (from NHL.com):
– Each game in the three-game, 3-on-3 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Tournament will be 20 minutes in length.
– Teams will change ends at the 10-minute mark of each game. Games that are tied after 20 minutes will be decided by a shootout.
– The Central Division All-Stars will face the Pacific Division All-Stars and the Atlantic Division All-Stars will face the Metropolitan Division All-Stars in the two Semi-Final games.
– The winners of each Semi-Final game will play each other in the All-Star Game Final to determine the overall tournament champion.
– The four division-leading NHL coaches (best points percentage following the completion of games on Jan. 9, 2016) will be named coaches for each of the four All-Star teams