from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

At the recent GM meetings, there was some discussion about All-Star Weekend.

“It’s a good event,” one of them said. “Until the game starts.”

There’s an understanding it is never going to be competitive. And, after polling several of the GMs, they don’t want it to be. The season is taxing enough on the players, so no one wants to see them injured when it doesn’t matter.

Chicago’s Stan Bowman was one of those who suggested a small March-Madness like tournament. After thinking further about it, here’s how it could work.

Currently, the NHL invites 40-ish players to the event, six of whom are goalies.

Increase the total to 48 skaters and keep the same number of goalies, bringing the total to 54. You can still do the draft, picking six teams of nine. We go four-on-four. The NHL and NHLPA determine the length of each game (it should be no problem getting them to agree on things, right?), creating a 15-match round-robin, with each group facing the others once.

The top two teams get a bye to the semis. The next four go head-to-head in the quarters in single-elimination until we have a winner. There would be ties in the round-robin and shootouts in the “playoffs.”

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