2022 NHL All-Star Game showcases Las Vegas as hockey town

LAS VEGAS --"We need a tiger."

Steve Mayer was serious. The NHL chief content officer is always thinking of ways to put events over the top, and he walked into a staff room the other day looking for a stuffed tiger so Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat could spoof the Las Vegas film "The Hangover" during the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.
The stuffed tiger had to be the right size for a Mike Tyson impersonator to take onto the ice, and the only one the NHL could find nearby was listed on a resale website. A staff member took an Uber to suburban Henderson, Nevada, to buy it.
"The Hangover" is about a group of guys who go to Las Vegas for fun and can't remember what happened. Well, this All-Star Weekend is about a group of guys who go to Las Vegas for fun and create something unforgettable.
Already we've had only-in-Vegas moments at the All-Star Skills, like DeBrincat's routine and the comedian Carrot Top heckling Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo during the adidas NHL Breakaway Challenge, plus the Las Vegas 21 in '22 on Las Vegas Boulevard and the Discover NHL Fountain Face-Off in the Fountains of Bellagio.
Now we have the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, ESPN+).
"It's huge," former Golden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland said. "I think it'll be good for the NHL and Vegas itself."
Engelland would know. He began his professional hockey career playing for Las Vegas of the ECHL from 2003-05, and he ended it playing for the Golden Knights from 2017-20 at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip.
This used to be a minor league sports town, but the Golden Knights made it a big-league town as Las Vegas' first major league pro sports team. They made it a hockey town, going on a magical run to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs each of the next three seasons and returning to the third round twice.
T-Mobile Arena is one of the most raucous venues in the League. There is so much passion for hockey here that Henderson of the American Hockey League is playing at Orleans Arena while waiting for a new rink to be built, and youth hockey is growing.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman led off a press conference Friday by thanking the Golden Knights for becoming such a big part of Las Vegas.
"I know there were a lot of skeptics when we announced we were expanding to Vegas, and the reception and the support and the connection between the team and the community is incredible," Commissioner Bettman said.
The League held the NHL Awards in Las Vegas for years before the Golden Knights were born, and it held that Stanley Cup Final here in 2018. Still, it says something that it awarded the All-Star Game to the city in the Golden Knights' fifth season.
"This is incredible, and it made it a no-brainer to do this All-Star Game -- no brainer," Mayer said. "I think this is a celebration of the NHL, but it's certainly a celebration of all Vegas has done in the hockey world in such a short period of time."
Walk around Las Vegas, and you see lots of gear representing the Golden Knights. Those are mostly the locals. You also see some gear representing whatever opposing team is in town. Those are the transplants and tourists.
This week the city is buzzing about hockey, from the 2022 Truly Seltzer NHL Fan Fair at the Las Vegas Convention Center to hotels on the Strip. Step into an elevator, and you never know who will be wearing what jersey from what team.
The locals will love the Golden Knights representing the Pacific Division, which, once again, they lead in the standings.
It's fitting. They have an original "Golden Misfit" in forward Jonathan Marchessault, selected from the Florida Panthers in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, and two players acquired by perhaps the most aggressive team in the League: forward Mark Stone, who came from the Ottawa Senators via trade Feb. 25, 2019, and Pietrangelo, who signed as a free agent Oct. 12, 2020. Coach Peter DeBoer will be behind the bench.
But the locals also will love seeing so many of the NHL's best players all in one place, playing in a 3-on-3 tournament. So will all the fans who flew into town for the weekend. The Pacific Division will play the Metropolitan in the first game, then the Central will play the Atlantic.
Over here are the top four scorers in the League: forwards Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, and Nazem Kadri of the Colorado Avalanche.
Over there are some of the top defensemen, like Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cale Makar of the Avalanche and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It will be a challenge for even the top goalies, like Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning, Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes and Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators.
No paper tigers in the All-Star Game. Only the best in a hockey town that already expects it.