Friday: The league has officially confirmed that next year’s All-Star festivities will take place in Sunrise, Florida. Commissioner Gary Bettman added that there are discussions about adding “international flavor” to the events, possibly hinting at the return of the North America vs. World format or perhaps a new international tournament.
Tuesday: The Florida Panthers will host the 2021 NHL All-Star Game, according to George Richards of The Athletic. The event is expected to take place on January 29-30, just before the Super Bowl is held in Tampa.
The Panthers have hosted the All-Star festivities once before, back in 2003. That was in the middle of a disappointing season for the team where they finished in 24th place, a rank they will obviously try to eclipse this time around. The team had just one All-Star representative in 2003, Olli Jokinen, though Sandis Ozolinsh was actually selected for the game just before a trade to the Anaheim Ducks.
With Joel Quenneville at the helm and several top players in their prime, the Panthers could have more than just one representative next season. Jonathan Huberdeau and his 64 points will be there this year, but Aleksander Barkov, Evgenii Dadonov, Keith Yandle, Aaron Ekblad and others all have the ability to hit the ice at the mid-season celebration.
Move them to Quebec already….
Brilliant, they do a great job with attendance too….. I agree with thomps. Get them as far away from sunrise Florida as possible. This has gone on for way too long.
This might be the first ever All Star Game that doesn’t sellout**
** I don’t really watch the All Star Games anymore so their may have been a few in the past that haven’t sold out that I missed.
agreed when going with 3 on 3 format lost interest in All-Star Festivities, wish they would go back to old school Western Conference and Eastern Conference , and young guns classic vs rookies, even skills competition lost interest may check out the gals as they are competing this year probably best part this year , Go Quebec Nordiques !Hope the Panthers do ship of to Quebec, bring back the cool uniforms of 80’s
Why are they getting it? Do they have a new arena?
Videotron Centre , home to QMJHL Quebec Remparts , 18,259 seating for HOCKEY , looked it up on Wikipedia
Basically new too. Just waiting for a team. Hard to believe they gave Seattle a team ahead of Quebec.
Maybe there is a concern about hotel room space, traffic, security etc but it would have been cool to see the ASG in the same city as the Super Bowl.