NHL All-Star Weekend: What You Need to Know for 2024

The 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto at Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Maple Leafs, has been expanded. It is now a three-night event that will feature NHL All-Star on Thursday, February 1, the All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook on Friday, February 2 and the All-Star Game on Saturday, February 3.

NHL All-Star Thursday will include the Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Player Draft, the NHL Alumni Man of the Year event, in which the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs will be honored, and the Canadian Tire PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase. This will be the fourth time a player draft will take place ahead of the NHL All-Star Game. It will feature four All-Star captains drafting teams for Saturday’s All-Star Game.

The All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook will feature 12 players competing in eight skills events across a brand new format. It will culminate in a $1 million winner-takes-all prize. All 12 players will participate in six events: Fastenal NHL Fastest Skater, Rogers NHL Hardest Shot, Upper Deck NHL Stick Handling, NHL One Timers, NHL Passing Challenge, and Cheetos NHL Accuracy Shooting. Each player will earn points based on their performance in the six events. The eight players with the most points will advance to a seventh event, the Honda NHL Shootout. In that event, each remaining player will get to choose which goalie they will compete against. After the Honda NHL Shootout, the top six point-getters will advance to the final event: the Pepsi NHL Obstacle Course, in which point totals are doubled.

The player with the most points at the end of all eight events gets the $1 million winner-takes-all prize.

NHL All-Star Weekend FAQ

NHL All-Star Game History

The first official NHL All-Star game was held during the 1947–48 hockey season. However, for the first 19 official games, they were played at the beginning of the season. In 1948, the NHL elected to move the game to its current format at the midpoint of the season. The NHL has tinkered with the format on a consistent basis, even electing to not have the event for a number of years, including from 1979–1987, when it was replaced by the Challenge Cup. All-Star Weekend also did not happen during the lockout seasons of 1995, 2005 and 2013, and during years when the Winter Olympics took place (2006, 2010 and 2014).

The league adopted its current format in 2016 for the game hosted at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The weekend featured a number of country music acts and outside festivities to attract a wider audience. That game was also unique because league journeyman and enforcer John Scott was voted into the game by fans, despite not being on an NHL roster. He was elected captain of the Pacific Division, scored two goals and was named game MVP.

Wayne Gretzky holds the record for most points accumulated in All-Star game appearances with 13 goals and 12 assists in 18 games. Mario Lemieux is right behind him with 23 points in 10 appearances. Gordie Howe holds the record for the most All-Star game nods, with 23 awarded appearances.

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