We’ve written at length about the new All-Star Game format, but now we know exactly how the fan vote will be conducted. Sufficed to say there will not be much fan involvement in deciding who plays in the All-Star game this year. Fans will vote for one player from each division and that player will be named the captain of the division’s team. From there, the NHL will select 40 players to accompany them.
So fans get to select 9.1 percent of the players who will participate in an exhibition designed for fans. Right. I imagine this gives the NHL the ability to send out RSVP emails to their players to check on, ah, vacation plans that might be scheduled over the annual exhibition.
The fan vote gets going tomorrow at www.nhl.com/vote. We’ll have more on the cases for a few different Sharks players in the coming days, but for now you can dive into the super, super interesting press release below.
NEW YORK (November 30, 2015) -The 2016 NHL All-Star Fan VoteTM opens worldwide on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 12 p.m. ET at NHL.com/Vote and hockey fans will determine the four All-Star captains for the 2016 Honda NHL® All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 31 (5 p.m. ET, NBCSN, Sportsnet, TVA Sports).
As part of the new format for the 2016 Honda NHL® All-Star Game, the All-Stars will take part in a three-game tournament, played in a 3-on-3 format, and featuring four teams representing each NHL division. Fans will cast votes online at NHL.com/Vote and via a mobile ballot for one player from each Division, without regard to position. Voting concludes Friday, Jan. 1, with the top vote-getters by division – regardless of position – named All-Stars and captains. The remaining 40 NHL All-Stars will be named by the NHL Hockey Operations Department.
The ballot will include enhanced interactive features, all designed to simplify the player search options for fans, including filtering and sorting by real-time statistics, position, team and a player’s trending status. Each player ballot page will include video highlights and player statistics. Fans will be permitted to select as few as one player and a maximum of four players per ballot. The maximum number of ballots cast per day for each user is 10.
The ballot page at NHL.com/Vote will include a leaderboard of the top vote-getters, as well as trending players. Vote totals will be posted to NHL.com every Tuesday, starting Dec. 8.
How to vote:
Broadband and tablets: NHL.com/Vote will feature interactive online ballots available in English and French and accessible anywhere in the world.· Mobile users worldwide will be able to cast their votes via a mobile ballot available in English and French using any mobile phone and wireless carrier. The interactive ballot also will be available via the official NHL app for iOS and Androids.· Facebook and Twitter users will be able to share their individual player selections online. Upon submitting a ballot via NHL.com/Vote, fans can send messages inviting others to cast their votes online. Fans also can join the conversation by using the official hashtag #NHLAllStar.
2016 NHL All-Star Fan Vote Sweepstake
Eligible residents of the 50 U.S. states and Canada who vote online at NHL.com/Vote can enter for a chance to win one Grand Prize: a trip for two to attend the 2016 Honda® NHL All-Star festivities in Nashville. There is no purchase necessary to enter or win. For sweepstakes rules, visit NHL.com/Vote.
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