The NHL is looking for ways to spice up the way it presents its end-of-year awards.
The league and the NHLPA are brainstorming new ideas to change the made-for-TV awards show, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported during Hockey Night in Canada‘s Saturday Headlines segment.
It appears the actual show may no longer be a thing.
“What the league is looking at in combination with the Players’ Association, is what else can they do that’s interesting, what else can they do that will make the awards special,” Friedman said. “A couple of things have been thrown out. One of the ideas is doing it the way the NBA does it.
“The NBA, during the first week of the playoffs, will honour the winners at their home arenas.”
Earlier this season, the Colorado Avalanche had Denver Nuggets three-time MVP Nikola Jokic present the 2023-24 Hart Trophy winner, Nathan MacKinnon, with his award in a ceremony somewhat similar to the one NBA players receive in the post-season.
“These are the kind of things that are being considered because it’s not expected this year that there will be an awards show as we’ve seen it in the past,” Friedman later added.
The 2024 awards were hosted on June 27 in Las Vegas, three days after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final, one day before the first round of the NHL Draft and one week before the opening of free agency.
So, another benefit of moving the awards would be to limit the number of events at the end of the NHL season, which Friedman called “too much, too quickly.”
Friedman added that the NHL is looking for ways to create viral moments around the awards, perhaps by surprising winners in public with the trophies and news of their accomplishments.