2024 NHL All-Star Weekend Recap (From the Sharks’ and My Perspective)

 The 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend has wrapped up, and as in year's past, I want to give my thoughts on select aspects of what went down at this year's NHL All-Star festivities in Toronto, along with how the Sharks' representative performed during the main event. 

Although the All-Star festivities have no implication on the regular season or the playoffs and is purely a revenue grab and for the fans, especially those who attend them, I caught most of the skills competition on TV on Friday and the entirety of the actual all-star game on Saturday. I want to start with how Tomas Hertl performed during the main event. Hertl was selected to Team McDavid during Thursday's All-Star Player Draft, who wore white jerseys and was led by Captain Connor McDavid, Assistant Captain Leon Draisaitl, and Celebrity Captain Will Arnett. He registered an assist in the first semifinal game on Team McDavid's first goal of the match scored by Boone Jenner. Team McDavid would come from behind to defeat Team MacKinnon 4-3 in a shootout to advance to face Team Matthews in the All-Star Game Final. As for the ASG Final, Hertl registered a goal late in the second half, but Team McDavid would lose to Team Matthews in the All-Star Game Final. None other than Auston Matthews was awarded the All-Star Game MVP in front of his home crowd in Toronto. Still a solid performance by Tomas Hertl in his second All-Star Game. 

A few of my other favorite moments from the 2024 NHL All-Star festivities include Michael Buble admitting that he took a micro dose of shrooms before the player draft and felt he was in Blades of Glory that night, which was hilarious, and Tate McRae from an eye candy standpoint. I wasn’t a fan of the All-Star jersey designs from this year, which were made in collaboration with Justin Bieber’s Drew House brand, but after seeing them on the ice during the main event, they grew on me a bit. In addition, it’s great that best-on-best hockey will be returning starting next year with the Four Nations Tournament between the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Finland, and the NHL’s return to the Olympics in 2026 and 2030. 

Looking forward to more meaningful hockey and the trade deadline bonanza approaching soon! 

Sources: ESPN, NHL Discussion via Instagram

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