It used to be good, but they got rid of the breakaway challenge, they have that weird last man in thing, and they end up with a weird number of forwards/d-men ... i prefer when it was 6-3-2. Now we've had 7-2-2 sometimes and the Pacific division is 7-2-2 right now and could have been 8-1-2 depending on the voting, but the Metropolitan is 5-4-2? It makes no sense. And this year they aren't even picking someone from every team. Where is an Anaheim player?

Now everyone wants to skip it and the whole thing is unorganized. I just don't really care about it anymore.

Especially with the NHL not sending players to the Olympics and again postponing the World Cup of Hockey, I'd like them to bring back the North America v World roster format. Although I'm not sure in terms of optics they would (or even should) embrace that "divisive" framework related to nationality in the current geopolitical climate.

Jakob Silfverberg plays for Anaheim but pulled out for 'personal reasons'.

But usually they replace those guys with someone from that team. The whole thing is just so unorganized.

It think of how the way the all-star game is organized exemplifies the NHL's poor marketing ability. The format is needlessly convoluted and public participation is limited. It's hardly advertised as a big deal or something fans should care about.

There's a laundry list of ways to improve it.

The breakaway challenge was the only reason a lot of people watched it, including me, they need to bring it back

I used to think the MLB had the best All-star game. there was real incentive for most of the guys picked to actually try in the game, but this is also a non-contact sport. There is a reason the NFL has the pro-bowl right before the superbowl. there is a reason there are rules in place to protect guys in that game. you will never really have a "real" game in a contact sport. Its a poorly marketed money grab by the NHL. Nothing more, nothing less. Guys are battling injuries right now, they would rather have a week off than play in a "game" that means nothing. They should consider moving it to the end of the year, or just getting rid of it altogether.