Elliotte Friedman claims NHL dabbled with idea of hosting awards show inspired by NBA’s approach

Hockey analyst Elliotte Friedman weighed in on the fluid situation surrounding the NHL’s annual awards show. During Monday’s edition of Sportsnet’s "32 Thoughts" podcast, Friedman and co-host Kyle Bukauskas discussed how the annual event might change after the league announced they were scrapping the old former earlier this season.

“As we know, there’s no NHL Awards show as we’ve come to know it. That’s not happening this year,” Friedman said. “The league considered a few alternatives, one of which was inspired by the NBA’s approach — awarding players during the playoffs. The idea was to use an off-day in a series, then have the player receive the trophy in front of their home crowd for a big ovation.”

Friedman also raised the idea of making the awards more personal by having someone connected to the players presenting the award.

“Maybe if a player is known for supporting children’s charities, the kids he helps could be the ones to tell him he’s won an award," Friedman said. "They also discussed maybe having a mentor, family member, or close friend surprise the player with the trophy, whether at home, at the rink, or elsewhere.”

On Saturday, Friedman reported about the NHL and NHLPA’s search for a fresh format to present the awards. He said that the league was considering a style similar to how the Colorado Avalanche held a special ceremony where Denver Nuggets' three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic presented last season’s Hart Trophy to Nathan MacKinnon.

Friedman added that the format of hosting the awards show between the NHL draft and the Stanley Cup final makes the end-of-season calendar cluttered.

Elliotte Friedman floats idea of Punk’d-style award presentation

During Monday's episode of the "32 Thoughts" podcast, Elliotte Friedman brought up the concept of "punking" the players to be awarded.

"Then, the idea evolved into more of a 'Punk’d-style' reveal where they play a practical joke on the player before revealing, ‘Congratulations, you’ve won the Hart Trophy,'" Friedman said. “You know they’re thinking about Nathan MacKinnon, if he wins the Hart (Trophy), like, how angry can they make him before giving him the Hart. Of course, not realizing that MacKinnon will probably beat someone over the head with it.”

Friedman also said that the NHL was looking to generate viral moments and package them into a one-hour show to be aired on one of the off-nights in the Stanley Cup final.

The NHL is reportedly aiming to generate more buzz to increase the sport’s popularity.