The NHL All-Star Game will be heading to St. Louis in 2020, according to a report published Thursday.
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic was first to report that the 2020 All-Star festivities will be held at Enterprise Center, home of the Blues. St. Louis last hosted the event in 1988, when the Wales Conference defeated the Campbell Conference 6-5 in overtime.
Enterprise Center recently underwent $42 million worth of renovations, which were completed prior to the start of this season.
The Blues will host the 2020 NHL All-Star Game @Enterprise_Cntr, league sources have told @TheAthleticSTL.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 27, 2018
This 2020 NHL All-Star Game will be the first played in St. Louis since Feb. 9, 1988, when Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux had six points (3G, 3A), including the game-winner in OT for 6–5 win for the Wales Conference. #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 27, 2018
The announcement has yet to be made official by the NHL.
Obviously quite a lot has changed since the last time St. Louis hosted the event. Not only do the Wales and Campbell conferences no longer exist, but the structure of the All-Star Game has been drastically revamped in recent years as well.
Instead of playing a full-length, five-on-five game between two teams, the NHL now holds the event in the form of a 3-on-3 tournament, with each of the four league divisions getting its own team. The two Eastern Conference divisions (Atlantic & Metro) play a 20-minute game, followed by a 20-minute game between the Western Conference divisions (Central & Pacific). The winners of those two games meet in a championship game (also 20 minutes) with the winning team splitting a $1 million prize.
This year's All-Star Game will be held on Saturday, Jan. 26 at SAP Center in San Jose. Captains for the contest were announced Thursday.
