The NHL has some of the most prestigious and historic awards in all of sports, and while they've often been presented under the lights of a major award night, the NHL are on the verge of scrapping the event.
NHL to cancel the NHL Awards night?
According to top Insider Elliotte Friedman, the NHL could be looking to move away from the traditional set up of an awards night, in favour of a different style altogether.
Friedman on 32TP says he doesn't expect there to be much of an award show this year, they're talking about copying the NBA, where they award the trophy during the playoffs, either on game day or the day before, then the player gets rewarded with a big ovation in front of the fans
It's hard to deny that the Awards Night for the NHL has lost its spark in recent years, and now, they have the perfect template to work off of in the NBA.
In the NBA, awards will be presented to players throughout the playoffs so to get major standing ovations from their home crowd rather than a neutral event full of players rather than fans.
Regardless of what happens, it's great to see the NHL evaluating the way things have been done and being open to change, and whether or not the event used to be fantastic, it's no longer the same, so this could be a fantastic change moving forward for the league.