The 2027 NHL All-Star Weekend is going to look like no other All-Star event before it.
During a pre-2026 Stanley Cup Final press conference on Tuesday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh jointly announced major changes to the league’s midseason event. The weekend, set for February 5 and 6 at UBS Arena in Long Island, New York, will include the usual All-Star Skills event and 3-on-3 tournament, but with a very different format.
The primary change is that the 3-on-3 tournament will no longer feature teams split along divisional lines or by a schoolyard pick. Instead, it will be based entirely on players’ nationalities. The round-robin-style exhibition tourney will feature five teams: Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States, and a “Rest of World” team.
Each team will consist of 11 players, with the NHL/NHLPA providing a list of 30 eligible players for fans to vote on. Through the fan vote, the first eight players on each team will be chosen, and the league will also select one forward, one defenseman, and one goalie, for a total of 55 participating players.
For the 2027 festivities, qualifying Russian and Belarusian players will be included on the “Rest of World” team. They will be grouped with players from nations such as Germany, Switzerland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Denmark.
After each team plays each other once, for a total of four five-minute games per team, the top two teams will advance to a 10-minute final game. The teams will receive two points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss. The winning team will claim a $2 million cash prize.
The skills competition, held the day before the big tournament, will also look slightly different, as only 10 stars, age 25 or younger and selected by the NHL and NHLPA, will compete across eight events. Each player will participate in four of the first six events: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Passing Challenge, One Timers, Stick Handling, and Accuracy Shooting.
After the first round, the top four players then advance to a shootout, facing one of four All-Star goaltenders. The top two performers from that semifinal round will compete in the last event: the Obstacle Course Finale. The player with the highest cumulative score will be crowned the All-Star Skills Champion and will win $1 million.
Both nights of the big weekend will be broadcast on ABC in the USA and Sportsnet in Canada during a three-hour window.
