2027 NHL All-Star weekend at UBS Arena will have skills competition and tournament of nationally-based teams
Fans wait in line outside UBS Arena at Belmont Park on Dec. 31, 2023. Credit: Jeff Bachner
The All-Star Weekend at UBS Arena on Feb. 5-6, 2027 will include a skills competition spotlighting 10 players 25 or younger and a three-on-three, round-robin tournament feature squads representing the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Finland and the World, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players’ Association Executive Marty Walsh revealed on Tuesday.
Islanders president of business operations Kelly Cheeseman sees it as a coming of age for the facility, which opened in 2021. Islanders’ season-ticket subscribers and suite holders will all have access to purchasing All-Star tickets.
“Our intention is to continue to work with the league to make sure that it really represents the [Belmont Park] campus,” Cheeseman said in a phone conversation from Raleigh, North Carolina shortly after Bettman and Walsh also met the media prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights at Lenovo Center.
“We’re going to see the maturity of the campus next year with our fifth anniversary, Belmont Park re-opening [on Sept. 18], Belmont Park Village really coming alive. We see the All-Star Game as our true grand opening.”
The skills competition will be held on the first night with eight events: Fastest skater, hardest shot, passing challenge, one-timers, stick handling, accuracy shooting, shootout and obstacle course finale.
“These kids will probably make a joke out of it, how easy it is for them and how skilled they are,” Cheeseman said. “I think that’s what young kids want to see. That’s where the league needs to go. We need to continue to grow younger.”
On Feb. 6, 11-player squads (nine skaters, two goalies) will compete, with Russian players expected to be eligible to play for the World team. Each squad will play four, five-minute games and the top two teams from the round robin will advance to a 10-minute final.
“We always try to make our events as good as possible and we always evaluate and re-evaluate what we’ve done to see if we can make it better,” Bettman said. “This was a joint collaboration with the Players’ Association in terms of coming up with the format.
“Given the success of the launch of our calendar of international competition, first with the incredible 4 Nations Face-Off [in 2025] and with this year’s thrilling Olympic tournament, we wanted to incorporate some form of international representation into All-Star Weekend and we also wanted to shine a spotlight on the talented young players who are energizing the game.”
UBS Arena was initially slated to host an Olympic send-off event this February before the NHL pivoted this past October and cancelled those plans while announcing the Islanders’ home rink would instead host the 2027 All-Star Weekend.
The NHL first announced on Feb. 18, 2024, that UBS Arena would host the 2026 All-Star Weekend, which morphed in 2025 to an Olympic send-off event.
“In terms of commitment to the Islanders, we like to fulfill all of our commitments,” Bettman said. “And we had made a promise to the Islanders and to the fans in New York who are Islanders’ fans and season-ticket holders and we’re happy to be doing this.”
Cheeseman said there will be a season-long initiatives at UBS Arena to highlight the All-Star Weekend, including a logo patch on the Islanders’ uniform and displays on the rink.
He said events would be held both in New York City and on Long Island to promote the All-Star Weekend.
“We anticipate celebrating New York, Long Island and working with the league to do that,” Cheeseman said. “We really intend to use this as a moment to create awareness around the Islanders, the campus, the arena and to work with the league to do that.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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