NHL ditching televised awards show, will try something new: report
The NHL appears to be ditching the cheesy televised awards show that fans have become accustomed to over the last decade or so.
A recent report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest Saturday Headlines segment made it clear that the league will not be hosting its usual awards show and that new methods would be explored instead.
“The word is this year that there will not be an award show per se,” Friedman reported. “What the league is looking at, in combination with the player’s association, is what else can they do that’s interest, what else can they do to make the awards special?”
From Sam Bennett contract talks, to the Canadiens and Ivan Demidov. 📰@FriedgeHNIC has your Saturday Headlines. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/UM15OG4uUP
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 20, 2024
One of the options reportedly on the table would mimic how the NBA hands out its awards. That involves ditching a centralized award show and instead going to the winner’s home arena and honouring them in front of the hometown crowd.
“There’ll be a press conference earlier in the day, and then at the beginning of the game, the trophy will be brought out, and the player can celebrate and get a big ovation from the fans,” explained Friedman.
“One of the other things they’re talking about is can they create viral moments. Like maybe surprising the player somewhere with the trophy.”
It’s easy to see why the NHL is deciding to ditch the televised event. The award show has been a constant stream of cringy moments from C-list celebrities. In all honesty, a change to the format was sorely needed.
No NHL Awards show this season according to Elliotte Friedman.
Tough news for C-list celebrities.
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) October 20, 2024
This follows another change coming to one of the league’s primetime offseason events: the draft. While the draft is usually held in one central location, this year will welcome a decentralized version of the event in which teams conduct business out of their home offices rather than travel.
The last time the league made sweeping changes to an event was last year’s All-Star Game, which garnered rave reviews. We’ll see if they can do the same with the awards.