Can the NHL learn from the NBA All Star Game's new format?

[Adam Fox Time]

The 4th quarter of the NBA All Star Game was fantastic. The first three quarters were like any All Star Game, no one played defense and no one cared. But they used a new format for the 4th quarter. The score going in was 133-124, with Team Giannis leading Team LeBron. With the new format, the 4th quarter was untimed and the first team to score 157 points won (24 points more than the leading team's score to honor Kobe Bryant).

The rest of the game was as exciting as you could get. The players actually tried to win and it was like watching a playoff game. Team LeBron won the game despite being down 9 points entering the 4th quarter.

The NHL could really learn from this new format for their own All Star Game, but what can they do? An obvious idea would be to make the game(s) first to a certain number of goals wins rather than standard 60 minute games.

What are your ideas?

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[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I felt they did it in a unique way by doing a draft, seems like the players loved doing that.

 

[leafsfan5]

I felt they did it in a unique way by doing a draft, seems like the players loved doing that.

the NHL did that before the NBA did

 

[HisIceness]

I like the way the NHL has their All-Star game now. The idea of "First to 10" or whatever like the NBA just did works for Basketball but I'm not sure it translates well to Hockey.

 

[JianYang]

There's a cultural difference between the nba and nhl in terms of how the players value all star participation.

In the nhl, players generally could care less if they participate in the all star game.

The nba players take it to heart if they are left off the roster. They want to be all stars.

 

[SwaggySpungo]

There's a cultural difference between the nba and nhl in terms of how the players value all star participation.

In the nhl, players generally could care less if they participate in the all star game.

The nba players take it to heart if they are left off the roster. They want to be all stars.

That’s the way it used to be in hockey too.

Regarding the format, unfortunately you can’t really do “first to” in hockey because scores vary so wildly from game to game. There’s a much smaller range (by percentage) in the NBA.