NHL All-Star Game

The National Hockey League All-Star Game is an annual event held to showcase the league's best players, usually around the midpoint of the season.

The 2012 All-Star Game was held Jan. 29 in Ottawa. The 42-man roster was divided into two teams under captains Zdeno Chara and Daniel Alfredsson. Team Chara beat Team Alfredsson, 12-9. Marian Gaborik, playing for Team Chara, was named MVP.

The format for selection -- and the game itself -- changed in 2011. The fans selected six players to the team, based on votes online. The league's hockey operations department chose the rest -- 36 players for the squad, as well as 12 rookies for the skills competition.

Instead of playing East Conference vs. West Conference, as the game usually does, the 54-man roster is divided using a fantasy draft to decide the teams. Two captains are chosen and asked to pick players for their teams using alternating selections. Those teams consist of three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards. By rule, the two captains must select all their goaltenders by the end of the 10th round of the draft, and all their defensemen by the end of the 15th round.

In previous years, fans had voted in 12 players -- six players from each conference that acted as the starters in the game. The other 30 players still were selected by the operations department and acted as the substitutes.

The All-Star Game is the culmination of a weekend of events hosted by the NHL, preceded by the SuperSkills Competition. The competition has been held on the night before the game since 1990.

The competition includes several events contested by the NHL's best representatives, as well as 12 of the season's top rookies decided by the league. The events include: Fastest Skater, Breakaway Challenge (the NHL's version of a Slam Dunk contest -- the more extravagant the routine before a goal, the better), Accuracy Shooting, Skills Challenge Relay, Hardest Shot and the Elimination Shoot Out.

Until 2011, the event also featured a Young Stars Game played by the top 12 rookies. That game was eliminated, and the 12 rookies now compete in the skills challenge as part of the two teams selected in the fantasy draft.

The first official NHL All-Star Game took place in 1947, though all-star games had been held for decades prior. The first recorded hockey all-star game dates back to 1908, before the NHL even existed. The first game sponsored by the new league took place in 1934, when it was hoped it would become an annual event.

Several memorial or benefit games were held during the next several years, but the league's official, annual All-Star Game did not come to fruition until the 1947-48 season. Since then, the All-Star Game has been, by and large, an annual event.

There have been a few years when the All-Star Game has not taken place: most recently in 2006 and 2010, when the game was skipped because the Winter Olympics were held.

The first four years of the official All-Star game (1947-50) featured a team of stars vs. an established NHL club, the defending Stanley Cup champions.

During a meeting prior to the 1950 All-Star Game in Detroit, two ideas were raised by New York Rangers' Publicity Director, Stan Saplin, to improve the format. The thoughts were to change the game, which matched the All-Stars against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Saplin suggested the six teams be divided into East and West or that Canadian teams (Montreal and Toronto) confront U.S.-based teams (New York, Chicago, Boston and Detroit).

The format changed the next year (1951) when the First Team All-Stars, supplemented with players from the four U.S.-based clubs, faced the Second Team All-Stars with additions from Toronto and Montreal. When both the 1951 and 1952 game ended in ties, the League went back to the format which matched the Stanley Cup champions against the All-Stars. That format stayed in place from 1953-65.

There was no All-Star game in 1966. The contest was moved from the end of the year to the next mid-season. Other years where the All-Star game wasn't played: 1979 (There was a Challenge Cup series vs. Russia instead); 1987 (Rendez Vous series vs. USSR); 1995 (cancelled when NHL lockout led to a shortened season of 48 games); 2005 (lockout cancelled the entire season) and 2006 (Olympics).

In 1969, the NHL went to the East vs. West format. The first time they used the format, the game ended in a 3-3 tie. That game featured two of the greatest coaches of all-time, though Scotty Bowman and Toe Blake didn't get a win.

In 1970, St. Louis hosted the All-Star game. That started a run where United States cities hosted five straight years.

From 1998-2002, the format was changed to the World vs. North America.

The first six players named to the 2012 NHL All-Star Game were chosen via fan voting, with the remaining 36 players named on Jan. 12. Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara have been named the two captains, and they divided the roster into two teams at the 2012 NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft on Thursday, January 26.

Team Chara Rookies

Luke Adam, Buffalo Sabres
Raphael Diaz, Montreal Canadiens-^
Colin Greening, Ottawa Senators
Cody Hodgson, Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Johansen, Columbus Blue Jackets
Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche

Team Alfredsson Rookies

Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers
Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes
Carl Hagelin, New York Rangers
Nick Johnson, Minnesota Wild-^
Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers
Craig Smith, Nashville Predators

Injured/Unable to participate

Mikko Koivu, Minnesota Wild
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets
Adam Henrique, New Jersey Devils
Adam Larsson, New Jersey Devils-x
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers

^ - Injury replacement

Last updated Jan. 26, 2012