NHL returns to player draft for All-Star Game / Photo: Scott Taetsch - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
NHL returns to player draft for All-Star Game
The NHL will return to a player draft format to determine rosters for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, the league announced Monday, while keeping a 3-on-3 tournament format.
Two team captains will select squads from a pool of players chosen by the league and fans in an NHL All-Star Thursday draft on February 1 in Toronto followed by an NHL All-Star Skills competition the next night and the All-Star Game on February 3.
"We've decided to add a third night to an already vibrant weekend," NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said. "We felt like this was a year to make some changes."
Captains had chosen players three times before in NHL history -- at Carolina in 2011, Ottawa in 2012 and, after two years without the event, Columbus in 2015.
"That was a really fun piece in past years," Mayer said.
The NHL will select 32 players for the NHL All-Star Game, one from each club, with a fan vote in January enabling fans to select 12 players to complete the rosters.
The NHL will select captains from the 44-player pool and those captains will pick the four team lineups from the remaining players for a tournament using the NHL's regular-season overtime format of three skaters and a goaltender for each club.
Two teams will meet in each semi-final match with the winners advancing to the final.
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