Here is this week's Pylons: Should the All-Star game be modified to increase interest for fans? Should the weekend be dedicated to skills competitions? Maybe it could be merged with the Winter Classic and be played outdoors? Or is it time to retire this tired idea?

It's definitely time to retire this old idea. This weekend's events were almost embarrassing to watch. It's not a real representation of NHL hockey: Players going at half-speed, no hitting, brutal passing. This isn't a showcase for hockey talent anymore. I think the Winter Classic has become the league's marquee game, because it counts in the standings and thus players are still playing hard to win. Even the skills competitions were terrible - particularly the shootout competition, where players flailed like amateurs to perform tricks they clearly made up on the spot. It's not real NHL hockey. It's garbage. Time to shut it down.

Time to put it out of our misery. Especially in the new, faster NHL, we do not need to see a watered-down version of hockey, just so the sponsors can be wined and dined. The game is a joke that gets less funny each time it is told. The Ottawa edition was totally empty of drama, other than players trying to get a hat-trick for Alfredsson. The only possible way to save it, is can the game and enhance the skills competitions. Maybe re-create scoring from the rafters, a la Shea Weber? Or hitting a tiny target from across the rink, a la Sidney Crosby? Other than that, or some solid out-of-the-box ideas, killing the game would no longer tarnish the memory of Ace Bailey, whose career-ending injury was the impetus for the first-ever game way back in 1934.

I think there is still hope for the all-star game. How about combining it with the Winter Classic and playing it outdoors? I understand that will remove some non-winter markets as hosts but it clearly positions it as a unique, exhibition event. To make it more competitive, the North American all-stars could play the World all-stars again.

I appreciate you taking a contrarian view, but come on. As long as there's nothing on the line, the players will always put in a half effort regardless of the format. The only exception to that might be if the NHL All-Stars challenged the KHL All-Stars - then there's something on the line. But the NHL will never do that because they don't want to give credibility to any other professional hockey league. And I don't think messing with the proven success of the Winter Classic would be a good idea. Don't fix what isn't broken, even if the novelty of an outdoor game has worn off.

Even with an NHL KHL game, do you really think teams would want their stars to go all out, risking catastrophic injury, just for the glory of bragging rights? Hockey without hard hitting is not hockey.

Is there not something exciting for a community that hosts the NHL's stars? The draft, skills competition and game are seen on TV, but in the host city, the related youth hockey and fan fests, parties and opportunities to meet the players are a big deal for fans and sponsors.

Yes, I'll give you that. And apparently some of the revenue from the weekend events goes into the NHL retirement fund. But for everyone outside of the host city - particularly potential new hockey fans - the weekend is a pretty bad showcase of what the game is actually like. It's embarrassing to see the game's elite players skate at half-speed and struggle to score a shootout goal. If the league focuses its marketing efforts on the Winter Classic where players are going full-out, it would be a better showcase of the game - because that's real NHL hockey, not a half–hearted exhibition game.