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NHL All-Star game in Columbus eliminated in next games cancellation, says report

Greg Wyshynski

That the 2013 NHL All-Star game has managed to stay alive during the lockout this long is almost inexplicable. It's like watching an obese, near-sighted guy with a broken leg in the final two of a dodgeball tournament. (Hey, if you can dodge a wrench …)

Forget for a moment that the All-Star game would be sacrificed in a condensed schedule, as the break in the season would be used to squeeze in games; the real issue is that the All-Star game requires at least a modicum of cooperation between the players and NHL for this glorified sponsors mixer.

You know, the players that are currently locked out and calling the commissioner's office a cancer on the game …

So it should come as no surprise, via Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, that the city's All-Star date is about to be postponed to another season:

A source has told The Dispatch that the All-Star Game — scheduled to be hosted by the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena on Jan. 27 — will be included when the league cancels its next wave of games. The axe could fall any day now. Already, the league has canceled all games through November, a total of 327 games, and the Winter Classic outdoor game on Jan. 1.

The All-Star Game was expected to bring $12 million into the local economy, and it would have given Nationwide Arena — now owned by Franklin County — a chance to show off its many upgrades, including a massive new scoreboard.

As we previously reported, the earliest Columbus could get the game again would be for the 2014-15 season, as the 2014 game will be sacrificed for Sochi. No word if there's already bidding for that season; hopefully Columbus doesn't get passed over.