The Tampa Bay Lightning will welcome the rest of the National Hockey League to Amalie Arena for the 2018 NHL All-Star Weekend.
This is the second time the Lightning have hosted the NHL All-Star Game, having hosted the 1999 event. All-Star Weekend has evolved since then, and will see these competitions take place on January 27 and 28, 2018.
This will impact the 2018 Winter Olympics. The NHL had previously halted their season for the Winter Games for the last three Olympics, though the league announced in April that they would not do so this time around.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin announced that he would represent his native Russia regardless of whether the NHL supported it or not.
“I didn’t change my mind, and I won’t,” Ovechkin told the Washington Post in April. “It’s my country. You know, I think everybody wants to play there, and it’s the biggest opportunity in your life to play in the Olympic Games. So I don’t know. Somebody going to tell me don’t go, I don’t care. I just go.”
Ovechkin may not be the only player to go to Pyeongchang, South Korea to represent their country. Local star Steven Stamkos was among 16 current players to speak with ESPN about playing in the games.
“I can only speak for myself, but my answer might be a little different just because I didn’t get a chance to play [in Sochi] because of injury last time, so I really want to go,” Stamkos told ESPN.com. “I know it’s been a hot topic, but the players have said it since Day 1 and haven’t strayed away, that we really want a chance to have a once-in-a-lifetime-chance experience. You never know how many chances you’re going to get to represent your country on a stage like the Olympics.”
Along with the traditional All-Star Game, the weekend will see the top stars of the league competing in the Skill Competitions, a combination of six different events that pit each of the different divisions against each other in a test of the various attributes needed to be a top level NHL player.
The excitement of bringing a showcase event to Tampa was evident amongst NHL leaders.
“We are looking forward to bringing the 2018 NHL All-Star celebration to the Tampa Bay area. In addition to the events on the ice, we’re planning outside activities which will embrace the Tampa Bay Community and Gasparilla events,” NHL Commissioner Garry Bettman told NHL.com.
Chairman and Governor of the Tampa Bay Lightning Jeff Vinik views this as proof of the growth of hockey’s popularity in the Tampa Bay area.
“We are thrilled to host the 2018 NHL All-Star Game at Amalie Arena. We’ve worked hard over the past several years to transform Tampa Bay into a hockey market. The honor of hosting the All-Star game validates that work, but it’s not the end of our efforts. We pledge to work alongside the NHL as well as leaders across Tampa Bay to deliver a world class experience for All-Star players, fans and partners,” Vinik told NHL.com.
The format of the All-Star game is continuing their divisional concept, where the two Eastern and two Western conference divisions face off against each other in one period games where the winners of each compete in the third period to determine a winner.
This format was established in 2016 in order to spice up an exhibition game that had seen diminished television ratings over the previous few seasons. The 2016 event saw their ratings increase by 24 percent to 1.17, compared to the 0.94 overnight rating the 2015 game drew. Meanwhile, the 2017 All-Star game improved by a third compared to the 2016 event, gaining an overnight rating of 1.6, the highest the NHL All-Star game has done since 2004.