NHL All-Star Notebook: State of the league at the all-star break

ST. LOUIS — Puck and player tracking across the NHL was announced as an official venture during last year’s All-Star Game in San Jose, and in this year’s event in St. Louis, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the next steps.

All 16 arenas of the postseason teams for this season will have puck and player technology available, while all arenas will have it ready to go for the regular season at the start of the 2021 season.

“There will be more data than ever before,” Bettman said. “I believe the players will generate something like 200 data points per second and the puck 2,000 data points a second, so in terms of getting inside the game, telling stories, as a fan delving in to get what you’re interested in, you’re going to be able to do more things than ever before and even imaginable.”

Bettman also touched on the stalemate with the Players’ Association regarding participation in the Olympics, where he didn’t seem ready to budge on the issue.

“I know the Players’ Association still maintains a strong preference for going,” said Bettman. “I know the IIHF still is focused on engaging with us and I think even wants to have a meeting at some point in the not too distant future. From our standpoint, we believe and our experience both with going to five Olympics and then not going to Pyeongchang tells us that going is extraordinarily disruptive to the season. I won’t take you through the litany of reasons why, you’ve all heard me say it. I know it maintains itself as a priority for the Players’ Association, but having said that we were very comfortable with not going to Korea.”

It seems there’s no clear deadline for when that official decision will be made, but Bettman appears at peace with not going to the Winter Olympics next time around, Beijing in 2022, no matter what.

Bettman did not have a recent update on the status of the CBA, nor did he on the team name for the new Seattle club.

Pastrnak partakes in new contest

David Pastrnak took the accuracy contest in San Jose last season during his first All-Star Game, but this year he didn’t defend his crown. Instead, the B’s winger was a part of the league’s first attempt at the Shooting Stars event.

The competition involved players shooting onto the ice from in the stands, trying to hit targets akin to a Top Golf game.

Other players who took part in the inaugural event include Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, Senators forward Brady Tkachuk, and Stars forward Tyler Seguin.

Pastrnak also was a part of the goalie skills competition, the Save Streak, where every forward competed against the eight goalies on the four teams.

Bergeron, Chara get league honors

As the NHL announced their all-decade team on Friday, a pair of Bruins skaters earned a mention.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and alternate captain Patrice Bergeron were named to the league’s all-decade second team.

The second team included Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, Lightning forward Steven Stamkos, Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson, and Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/36iGEfK