According to Friedman there has been an overwhelming response from NHL players that they dislike participating in the All-Star game weekend festivities and commitment. NHL teams have expressed that it is becoming increasingly harder and harder to get their players to want to go to the ASG.
The NHL met with All-Stars yesterday to try and come up with a solution on how to entice players to the event.
Friedman says that the overwhelming response is that players only want the ASG to be in hot weather/family ideal locations.
Friedman says that the NHL really took this to heart and are thinking of limiting the ASG to a circuit of a few cities, (Ala Superbowl)
Friedman mentions that the cities would be places such as , Florida, Tampa, Dallas, Arizona, Caliornia teams, Westocast.
I finally tacked down where Friedman said this. It was on this morning’s Jeff Marek show with guest host Matt Marchese.
The OP has certainly put his own spin on what Friedman actually said.
First of all, in regards to the conversation between the NHL and the All-Stars about getting more players to want to come 5o the ASG, Friedman actually said that one of the responses was ”We like coming here this time of year.” Friedman never said that it was overwhelming or that the players only want to come to warm weather cities. It should also be pointed out this is a response from All-Stars who have chosen to attend an ASG in South Florida, so it may be a biased and I suspect that the NHL will talk to a lot more players before making any kind of decision.
Friedman also says nothing about the NHL really taking that response to heart or that the NHL is looking at limiting the number of cities where they hold the ASG. He just says he thinks that’s what they’re going to do. He offers no support for that conclusion, so it’s hard to tell how much is based things he’s heard from NHL executives and how much is pure speculation.
Finally, when he talks about what cities he thinks might be in a limited ASG rotation, he also includes Toronto, Montreal, New York, and Chicago. This list feels like pure speculation to me, although it is possible that he has some inside info that supports the idea of warm coy/big city list.
Personal Opinion: Friedman talks an awful lot about the weather and being right on the beach and he is clearly enjoying the warm weather break. I have to wonder how much of this limited list of ASG cities is something that the NHL is actually thinking about and how much of it is simply an idea of Friedman’s that he is trying to push. I definitely get the impression that he’d like to go somewhere warm every ASG break.
Sportsnet insider Jeff Marek goes around the league in Sportsnet 590 The FAN’s national NHL show, airing live across the country daily from 12pm-2pm ET. Opinion, news and analysis featuring daily segments from insider Elliotte Friedman.
www.sportsnet.ca
