Another All Star Game format

The word is out that two captains will choose players from either conference to make up the teams for the 2011 game in Carolina. Fans voting for the starters and the NHL’s hockey operations staff rounding out the rest of the pool. The change eliminates the the Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference which has been for format since 2003.

Let's face it, shuffling the players around and changing the sweaters isn't going to make the game more interesting. There hasn't been a good All Star Game since expansion. Back then the All Star team would play the Stanley Cup winner at the start of the season. The game had some meaning because the league champions were playing for pride having just won the Stanley Cup several months earlier. That's how it worked from 1947 to 1968.

The change in format was partly the result of moving the game from the start of the season to the middle of the season. The Cup winning team would look far too different 8 or 9 months later. It also meant that outstanding rookies would otherwise be shut out of the game (Booby Orr broke in at that time),

With expansion the NHL was able to move to an East vs. West format in 1968.

Further expansion changed the format to Wales Conference vs. Campbell Conference in 1975.

The 1979 All-Star Game with a three-game series where the best the NHL All Stars faced off against the best the Soviet Union had to offer in the Challenge Cup.

The Challenge Cup was copied in 1987 but called Rendez-Vous '87 and it was a two-game format to prevent the NHL from being embarrassed by the Russians.

The All Star Game in 1998 saw another change in format to promote the first Olympic hockey tournament where NHL players could participate. This format, which was used for five years, saw a team of North American All-Stars taking on a team of players who were not from North America known as the World All Stars.

In 2003, the game reverted back to its classic East vs. West format.