Recent All-Star Game History

With the All-Star 3-on-3 competition coming up tonight, I thought it would be a nice diversion today to get away from specifically New Jersey Devils talk and discuss the event coming up tonight. I mean, it is interesting to discuss trade possibilities and potential returns the team could get, but it all also has an air or disappointment around it, like we shouldn’t be here. Well, because as we all thought, we shouldn’t.

So knowing that, let’s look a little bit at the competition coming up tonight. I was going to call it the All-Star Game, and the NHL seems to still do that, but it feels a little bit off to word it that way considering it is three different 3-on-3 games instead of one normal game like it used to be when no one watched. Anyway, wording aside, this is the 5th iteration of this specific format, which brought back some life into this event. The Devils, of course, play in the Metropolitan Division, and their team has been one of the better ones over the last four seasons. Check out the records for each of the four teams over the first four seasons of the new ASG:

Atlantic Division:

Metropolitan Division:

Central Division:

Pacific Division:

So over the first four years, it really has been the Pacific and the Metro that have been the best, while the Atlantic and Central have struggled. The Central specifically has been bad, with three losses to the Pacific in the semi-finals, and a loss to the Metro in their lone trip to the finals. The Atlantic has had two trips to the finals, but have lost both of them to the Pacific.

The Metro, on the other hand, has been able to do what the Atlantic hasn’t. The two eastern teams are 2-2 against each other in the semis, but while the Atlantic is 0-2 in their finals trips, the Metro is 2-0, beating the Pacific and Central once each. The best team, however, by a small margin, has been the Pacific. They have the same number of championships as the Metro, so in that metric the two teams are equal, but the Pacific has 3 wins in the semis, while the Metro has only 2. It is a slight advantage, but it is one indeed.

Tonight, of course, can change all of that. An overall victory for the Metro or Pacific could put them on top definitively with the most championships in this new format, while a win from the Atlantic or Central would give them a leg up and get them back into the conversation. It will be fun to watch Nico Hischier do his thing on the ice tonight. I really hope he is able to show the world how good we all know him to be. The Metro are the defending champs, let’s hope they can defend it!