NHL All-Star 2024: McDavid's Million, Matthews Wins MVP, and Kucherov steals the show

Last week, the beautiful city of Toronto hosted the NHL 2024 All-Star Game, which everyone seemingly enjoyed, except for maybe one person (who just so happened to be one of the main participants). The event was a great success and nobody was left feeling happier than the hometown fans who saw their star player Auston Matthews win MVP with his 2-goal, 3-point performance in the final against Team McDavid.

The one man who “seemingly” wasn’t having the best time was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s superstar winger, Nikita Kucherov, who looked extremely grumpy and underdressed for the event. He’s never been known as a fancy dresser, but it was strange seeing him in plain jeans, a black hoodie and a black t-shirt for most of the weekend. He looked like a college student that only shops at H&M; someone on Twitter even claimed to have seen him wear the exact same outfit while grocery shopping.?

As for being grumpy, that’s just how he normally looks. Kucherov is someone that seemingly has ice running through his veins and rarely shows his emotions, unless celebrating big goals or playoff victories. I’d compare him to Kawhi Leonard in that aspect; a superstar that avoids media and prefers to let his stats do the talking instead.

Whether you love him or hate him, Kucherov's apathetic performance during the Skills Competition on Friday highlighted an ongoing issue with the contest itself - a concern the NHL is well aware of, considering the yearly changes made to it’s format. This year the league took a new approach to the skills tournament by having 12 out of the 44 selected players compete in a series of mini skills contests for the grand prize of a million dollars.?

The NHL’s aim with this revamped format was to bring drama and competition back into the event. Unfortunately, it sort of had the opposite effect with the main source of drama coming from Kucherov not trying his hardest during the Skills contest.?

Nevertheless, lets not pretend like his lack of effort ruined the event’s atmosphere. It was clear not many of the players were excited for these challenges, nor was there any added competitive flare that hadn’t previously existed in the All-Star Skills competition (one million dollars doesn’t mean much to players making ten million annually).?

In my opinion, his trolling of Leafs fans actually added to the spectacle of All-Star weekend. Even now, a few days after the event, fans online continue to discuss this topic, showcasing the storylines and media buzz he generated, compared to if he had just tried his hardest. Many people in Toronto were annoyed, with some going as far as speculating that he was drunk, while others called for the NHL to suspend him.

Being such a quiet person, I wonder if he intended to cause so many headlines, but once it blew up, he really embraced the role and enjoyed being the villain of All-Star weekend. After the game he showed that it was all in good fun, saying directly to the media that “fans were unbelievable” and that “it was a blast to be here”.

Everyone knows that players dial it back for All-Star weekend and just try to enjoy the unique experience. In Kucherov’s case, he may have taken it too far, but it was all in good spirit and ultimately had a positive effect on the event. There’s a famous saying by John Scalzi, “Villains are a necessary part of the story” and Kucherov embracing that role gave Toronto hockey fans something new to bring them together. It’s not every game you hear someone booed whenever they touch the puck, especially not during an All-Star game.

No one can deny that Connor McDavid is the most talented player with the highest skill ceiling in the league; him winning his 4th Fastest Skater contest and the million dollars won’t change that. Auston Matthews is now both a regular season and All-Star Game MVP, as well as being widely considered the best goal scorer in the NHL (on pace for 70 this season).?

But decades later, when people think back to this event, those two storylines will be overlooked in favour of Kucherov smiling and waving to a building full of fans booing him.

If you enjoyed reading about the 2024 NHL All-Star game, check out my previous articles where I analyze two of the most unforgettable and record-breaking contracts in MLB history signed by the LA Dodgers, totalling OVER A BILLION DOLLARS! In the span of a couple of weeks, they signed Shohei Ohtani for $700 million and then followed that up by signing his fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a deal worth over $375 million, despite him having never played a single inning in the MLB.

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