7 Takeaways from the 2024 NHL All-Star Game Weekend
The 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend is at an end, and it was quite a memorable one for more than a few reasons—most of them didn't have to do with Auston Matthews' team winning the event.
We had the All-Star Draft, Skills Competition and the game itself, and with so many things going on in Toronto, we have plenty to sort through as we wind down from a busy, extremely fun, time.
Getting to soak in the sights in The Six made for a great time, and seeing a city as big as Toronto wrap itself up in the entire event from the Fan Fair to all the on-ice events and entertainment was heartwarming in its own way. After all, hockey is life in Canada, and having all of the league's superstars in one place to compete (in a way) and show off their abilities made it a good time.
We've got a few takeaways from the weekend to break down, so let's get to it.
NHL GMs Were Dealing (and Firing)
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Usually when the NHL goes on All-Star break, it means everyone takes an actual break aside from the players and coaches involved with the game. This year proved to be a much different story.
The weekend kicked off with a pair of trades. The Vancouver Canucks acquired Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames for a five-piece package that included Andrei Kuzmenko, prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo along with Vancouver's 2024 first-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick. It's a juicy deal for Lindholm, who's due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. If we weren't sure if the Canucks were going for it before, we are now.
We also saw the Montréal Canadiens trade center Sean Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2024 first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in 2027. Seeing an arms race develop in the Western Conference a month before the trade deadline wasn't exactly expected, least of all for it to happen at the start of the All-Star break.
As if trades weren't enough, the Los Angeles Kings fired coach Todd McLellan after the team went 3-8-6 over their last 17 games heading into the break. Considering they began the season 20-7-4, it's been a tumultuous fall down the standings for them, something interim head coach Jim Hiller will attempt to turn around.
At Long Last, the NHL Returns to the Olympics
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Think back to where you were in 2014 and how cool it was seeing NHL players in the Winter Olympics. Canada won gold after beating Sweden, and Finland took bronze after beating the United States. We saw the likes of Jonathan Toews, Phil Kessel and Erik Karlsson shine throughout the tournament.
That was the last time NHL players took part in the Games, and fortunately, it won't be the last. The IIHF, NHL and NHLPA agreed to go back to the Winter Olympics starting in 2026 when the Games return to Italy.
With the 2026 Olympics in Milan, the 2030 Games expected to be in France and the 2034 Games likely going back to Salt Lake City, Utah, it's a prime time for the NHL to send its players back to the greatest international stage.
As part of that announcement, the NHL also said they'll have the Four Nations Face-Off in 2025 between the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland to give us a taste of something like the World Cup of Hockey, albeit with only four participants.
The NHL has long been without best-on-best international hockey, and it's exhilarating to see it return in multiple forms. We don't like to wish time away, but the 2026 Winter Olympics men's hockey tournament could be an all-timer for talent.
Connor McDavid Made the All-Star Skills Competition Fun Again
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When the NHL All-Star Skills Competition fell flat during the 2023 All-Star Weekend, it landed with a thud so hard it shook the league up. The pacing was slow, there was so much time to fill between events, and many of the events themselves (apart from the hardest shot, fastest skater and accuracy shootout) just didn't hit right, making hockey should never be—a total bore.
The league's representatives consulted with Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid about what could be done to make the competition worthwhile again. McDavid's ideas to change some events and add a $1 million cash prize to the overall winner proved to be the breath of fresh air it needed.
With 12 All-Stars selected to take part in the competition and guys gunning to win points for the events they took part in, we had an honest-to-goodness real competition to see who would win and, (most) guys went all-out to take home the title.
With the return of the key events and the addition of others like the one-on-one shootout—in which skaters picked which All-Star goalie they wanted to go against—a one-timer challenge, a passing accuracy challenge and an obstacle course, it proved to be a huge hit for everyone.
"I thought it was all pretty fun," Islanders forward Mathew Barzal said. "I was looking forward to the one-timer, because I thought that was interesting with the targets and it was a new event. I personally loved the format this year. I had a bunch of texts afterwards that it was pretty fun to watch."
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Nikita Kucherov Embraced the Villain Role
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When a rival player of the host team takes the ice at an All-Star event, it's always a good time. It's the one time you'll hear boos rain down from the fans. David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman heard them from the Toronto Maple Leafs faithful, and so did Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov.
The thing with Kucherov, though, was the boos got louder as the weekend went on.
Kucherov took part in the skills competition and didn't exactly have a stellar performance. He took his time skating through some events, lost the puck on other occasions and his body language seemed to say he wasn't having a good time during the event (although he said he was having fun, so who knows!). As the night wore on and Kucherov's seeming apathy grew, the fans' boos grew louder and louder until he was eliminated from the competition.
Fast forward to Saturday's All-Star Game, and the Maple Leafs faithful were full-throated in disapproval of Kucherov and, fittingly, Kucherov scored the first goal of the game for Team Hughes against Team Matthews. When the game ended tied and went to a shootout, as Kucherov was announced for his turn, the boos reached their apex only to see him egg the crowd on to get louder.
It was a master stroke of owning being the heel in a place he already wasn't going to be liked. It'll probably be the last time we'll see him in a skills competition, and that's probably a good thing, but if you're going to go down, go down owning it—and he did.
Connor McDavid is Incredible
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I know it can be easy as hockey fans to get really tired of hearing about the best players in the game. We've been through it hundreds of times in the past going back to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux to Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin and now to Connor McDavid and eventually Connor Bedard, assuredly.
But the thing is, the hype and talk that surround players like that is 100 percent justified.
Watching McDavid tear up the Skills Competition as well as watching him help lead his team to a comeback victory against Nathan MacKinnon's team during the All-Star Game showed exactly why we speak about him in such radiant terms.
Seeing McDavid tear around the ice in the fastest skater competition was breathtaking. Watching him make adjustments with the puck in full flight down the ice was mind-boggling. Seeing Colorado Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev stymie him in the one-on-one challenge and again during the All-Star Game itself shows that it takes superhuman effort to keep him off the board sometimes. After all, Georgiev stopped McDavid enough to win the best goalie prize of the challenge and win $100,000 for doing it.
McDavid brings the best out of everyone else by being the best, and his lofty status even in fun events like the Skills Competition really helps hammer that point home.
The All-Star Game Is Good
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The All-Star Game often gets pooh-poohed because it's "not real hockey" or "no one cares" or various other reasons that have to do with needing an event to be serious to be taken seriously.
You don't have to view it that way, though. The NHL's All-Star Game lets us see the world's most talented hockey players do their thing and ultimately ramp things up when it's time to actually be serious about trying to win $1 million.
And yes, the game is infinitely more fun when the players are really going for it, but that's logical. Players are competitive, and they like to win and hold one over their friends' heads. David Pastrnak putting a pair of nasty shots past teammate Jeremy Swayman to help Team McDavid beat Team MacKinnon shows that it can be fun and competitive and not need to be cutthroat.
It's not like these teams aren't trying when they're rolling out trios of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak or Nathan MacKinnon with Cale Makar and Sidney Crosby. Sure, you can see Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner play together all the time, but seeing them play with Clayton Keller proved to be pretty fun. Same for Filip Forsberg and Alex DeBrincat.
And when you see Sergei Bobrovsky rob Marner of a potential goal with time running down and see Marner toss his own glove at Bobrovsky for doing it, it's fun. Fun is good, and the All-Star Game is fun, therefore good.
Toronto is a Great All-Star Host City
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The underrated part of a great All-Star Weekend is the role the host city can play. When a great city that is bonkers about the sport invites the league to their home to help showcase the sport, there's nothing better.
Anywhere in Canada lives and breathes hockey, but in Toronto it's on an entirely different level. Think about the number of players in the NHL who come from the greater Toronto area or Ontario in general. Then think of the players who come from Canada and that Toronto is the country's biggest city. It means something to go to Toronto and be able to have the entire city welcome the game and the players.
Toronto might not be the resort city everyone might want to go to in the dead of winter, but it is one of the places that will embrace and embody everything about hockey. It doesn't hurt that the NHL and the players raved about the game being here and how the Maple Leafs helped make it a great event.
Now that the NHL will have the Four Nation Face-Off and will be back in the Olympics, there won't be another NHL All-Star Game until 2027. If the next host city can do half as well as Toronto has, it'll be another superb event. Going to the beach is nice, but going where everyone is a rabid hockey fan works wonders.
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