Toronto Maple Leafs to host 2024 NHL All-Star Game
The Daily Goal Horn
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Toronto will host the NHL All-Star Weekend in 2024, marking the first time the festivities have been held in Canada since 2012.
The All-Star Game and associated festivities will take place Feb. 2-3 at Scotiabank Arena.
The game hasn’t been played in Toronto since 2000, the eighth time it had the honor. Toronto also hosted in 1934, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1962-64 and 1968.
Toronto Maple Leafs to host 2024 All-Star Game
“We are thrilled to bring the NHL All-Star Game back to Toronto for the ninth time, and to shine a spotlight on our current stars in a setting that evokes over a century of League history,” commissioner Gary Bettman said Saturday. “Toronto fans are among the most knowledgeable and passionate in our game and the city’s rich hockey history dates back to the creation of the sport. What better place to play host to our annual midseason celebration of the best and brightest in the NHL?”
The 1934 game predates the first official NHL All-Star game in 1947. That 1934 “All-Star” game was a benefit fundraiser for Maple Leafs forward Ace Bailey, who sustained a career-ending injury that season.
The 1947 game featured the defending Stanley Cup champion Maple Leafs playing All-Stars from the other NHL teams, and that format remained in place through the 1968 game.
The announcement of the 2024 came as the NHL hosts this year’s All-Star Weekend in Sunrise, Fla.
“I think the city is going to be loving this,” Mitch Marner said. “Seeing how the NBA All-Star Game was, I think the NHL one will be even bigger.”
NHLPA close to naming new director
The NHLPA said in a statement Thursday that it is “getting closer to completion” of its search for a new executive director.
The man considered to be the leading candidate is Marty Walsh, the U.S. Secretary of Labor and the former mayor of Boston, TSN reported Thursday.
Walsh, 55, has been President Joe Biden’s Labor Secretary since March 2021 following more than seven years in office in hockey-loving Boston.
The NHLPA executive board must vote to select a new director. No vote was held Thursday.
The union is working to replace Donald Fehr, 74, who has served in the role since 2010 after holding the analogous position in the MLB Players Association from 1983 to 2009.
Active players who are members of the NHLPA’s search committee include Ian Cole (Tampa Bay), Mattias Ekholm (Nashville), Justin Faulk (St. Louis), Sam Gagner (Winnipeg), Zach Hyman (Edmonton), Kyle Okposo (Buffalo), Nate Schmidt (Winnipeg), Kevin Shattenkirk (Anaheim), Jacob Trouba (New York Rangers) and James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia).
Capitals extend Dylan Strome
The Washington Capitals signed center Dylan Strome to a five-year, $25 million contract extension Friday.
“Dylan is an intelligent and skilled center and has been a great addition to our organization,” senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan said in a release. “We are pleased to sign him to a long-term contract. We feel his skill set is a great fit for our team as he enters the prime years of his career at an important position.”
Strome, who signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Capitals last summer, has 36 points (11 goals, 25 assists) in 52 games this season. The 25-year-old Ontario native ranks second on the team in assists, third in points and power-play points (14) and fourth in goals.
Selected by the Arizona Coyotes with the No. 3 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Strome has 206 points (78 goals, 128 assists) in 325 games with the Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks and Capitals.
–Field Level Media