George Richards, FHN Publisher
The NHL made official Thursday what we all had long assumed as the league postponed the 2021 NHL All-Star Game which was scheduled to be hosted by the Florida Panthers in Sunrise.
In announcing the cancelation of the NHL All-Star Weekend (which was scheduled for Jan. 29-30), the league also said the Winter Classic scheduled for New Year’s Day at Target Field in Minneapolis would be postponed.
The NHL has said it hopes to start the 2020-21 season by January although there have been rumors it would not start until at least February.
In the announcement, the NHL says it “intends to return to both Minnesota and Florida for these signature events in the near future.”
On Monday, Florida Panthers president Matt Caldwell told FloridaHockeyNow.com that while it was almost a certainty the All-Star Weekend wouldn’t be held this year, he was confident the Panthers will be getting the next one.
“I am pretty certain when we do an All-Star Game,” Caldwell said, “we’re going to get it back. It may be postponed a year or whatever.”
This was supposed to have been just the second NHL All-Star Weekend hosted by the Panthers and would have been the first since 2003.
The team and league had plans for fan engagement throughout Broward County with a lot of the festivities centered in Fort Lauderdale where players and league dignitaries would have stayed.
“Having it here would be amazing,” Florida defenseman Keith Yandle said in January.
“Probably one of the best All-Star experiences the league has ever had.”
The NHL did says the postponement “does not impact the joint declaration by the NHL and National Hockey League Players’ Association … that we are targeting on or around Jan. 1 as the start date for the upcoming NHL season.”