With the NHL SuperSkills competition set for tonight and the actual game set for tomorrow, I want to talk a little bit about the usefulness of the All-Star game itself. Does it have a purpose? Is it good to have it during the season? Should there be other factors linked with the game? Well, let's talk about it.
First of all, the All-Star game did something quite interesting this year, which was to make the format of selecting teams a fantasy mock draft. Two teams, lead by Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal, selected players for their team round by round. This was much more interesting than the old East vs. West format, yet still has some problems. Everyone is going to be able to make a mockery of Phil Kessel, the last pick in the draft. Of course for being that pick he receives a new car (does he really need one with his nice fat salary in Toronto?) and a $20,000 donation to charity. Another issue was trying to draft to loyalties, as Team Staal drafted Cam Ward, Jeff Skinner and Eric's younger brother Marc. Team Lidstrom drafted Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and and ex-Blackhawk Dustin Byfuglien. Obviously the Raleigh natives will be rooting for Team Staal's three featured Hurricanes' players, which leads to a rather large bias for the game. Is that bad? I don't think so. It's good for fans to support one team, and maybe if fans from other cities such as Chicago make it to the game they will also know who to root for.
One of the most interesting story-lines of this year's All-Star game will be the Sedin vs. Sedin matchup. The premier set of twins in the NHL (Joel Lundqvist was obviously not available) will play against each other for the first time ever in their careers. This will be interesting to watch, as Henrik will have to prove he can set up players that aren't his brother and Daniel will have to receive and score on passes from someone other than his usual center. What would be even more hilarious was if they dropped the gloves against each other. Usually, physical play and fighting is not one of the skills on display at the All-Star game, but it would add for an interesting twist that this game so desperately needs.
That leads to me another point that I want to talk about, and that is the point of the All-Star game. It doesn't determine home ice for the Stanley Cup Finals like in the MLB's all-star game, and it is about as meaningless as the Pro Bowl, except that game happens once everything else is over after the Superbowl. There are two ideas that I want to suggest to the League, even though they obviously won't listen to me. I wonder why... anyway here we go.
The first idea is to make the All-Star game mean something. Let it determine home ice advantage in the Finals. Let it mean something to the players, instead of being a waste of time for players that rather use the five day break to rest during a long and difficult season. If the game determined home ice advantage then players would care more, especially those playing for teams such as the Canucks (well that would make it complicated for the Sedins, now wouldn't it?), the Flyers, the Blackhawks, the Lightning...yeah just about every team represented would care. It would make for a much more interesting game if the players actually had a reason to perform at their best.
The second idea I have for the All-Star game is to make it after the season, like the NFL's Pro Bowl. This isn't as good of an idea for a sport that is trying to build it's fan base, but if the game is not going to mean something then why not save it for after the season so as to not overwork the stars of the league in a game that doesn't contribute to much during the season. I know that Gary Bettman would never do this, as revenue from the All-Star game's advertising and sponsorships would be much lower and hurt the league. They might even lose enough money that the Phoenix Coyotes might just have to move back up to Canada. Now would that be such a bad thing?
Tell what you think down in the comments section below. Do you have any ideas of your own? Do you agree? Disagree? Really enjoy ice cream cake? Well if any of those apply please let me know. AW, over and out.
I feel that the All-Star game should stay when it is. I feel this way because even though the game doesn't mean anything, the players still love to play and it's a good break for them to come together despite their team differences.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like ice cream cake :)
I usually miss the Pro Bowl, but I presume the defensive players still need to tackle the offensive ones to end the play, yes ? :-) I think the fact that players in the NHL All-Star game need to hit the brakes and refrain from doing perfectly set up hip checks is a testament to their true skill ;-) ... but only "regular" hockey fans will appreciate that. Some years ago, I saw Theo Fleury actually check a player during an All-Star game. He got booed (as usual), but I really appreciated the effort. Like you said, unless the game is worth *something*, other than ego-boosting, the nature of the game probably won't change. I'm curious if the winning team gets a bonus. Alex ?
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