Last-ing Impression

While the buzz after last night's All-Star "Fantasy" Draft is all about the last pick, Logan Couture, it made me wonder about the other last picks of drafts, and I don't mean Phil Kessel's delve into the last pick from last season's edition of this.

I'm talking about the NHL Entry Draft, which "officially" started in 1979, as it was called the Amateur Draft prior to that. In that time span, only 10 last picks have played at least one game in the NHL, with the top-end player playing 739 games in the NHL.

It's started off in the 1979 Draft, where Blair Barnes was picked in the 6th round, 126th overall by the Edmonton Oilers-- playing in only one game in the 1982-83 season with the Los Angeles Kings. That next draft, the 1980 Draft-- Andy Brickley was the last pick in Round 10, 210th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers; then playing 385 NHL games with the Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, and Winnipeg Jets. Brickley finished with 82 career goals and 222 points.

There was a quite the gap, but we got back-to-back last picks playing starting in the 1987 Entry Draft with Edmonton again pick last, this time Igor Vyazmikin with the 252nd overall pick, leading to a four-game stint with the Oilers, for only one goal in his career. In 1988, Edmonton's provincial counterparts, the Calgary Flames, picked last at pick 252 and took another Russian in Sergei Pryakhin-- who was the first Russian who was allowed by the Soviet government to play in the NHL-- and put up three goals and 11 points in 46 career games. Pryakhin was the first Russian-trained player to receive a Stanley Cup ring, as well, but not engraved on the Cup.

A small gap before yet another back-to-back last pick. The 1993 Draft has the Pittsburgh Penguins pick in the 286th slot, using Hans Jonsson for their pick, where he'd lead a solid career over 242 games with the Penguins, compiling 10 goals and 48 assists on the blue line. Another blue liner was picked last in the 1994 Draft, when Kim Johnsson was pick by the New York Rangers and would lead the way for the last picks-- playing in 739 games with the Rangers, Flyers, Minnesota Wild, and Chicago Blackhawks, finishing with 67 goals and 284 points.

The Boston Bruins picked last in the 1997 Draft, using the 246th pick to choose Jay Henderson, would only put up four points in 33 games with the Bruins.

More recently, the most active players on the chart include Jonathan Ericsson, currently playing with the Detroit Red Wings, who drafted him with 291st pick in the 2002 Draft. Currently, Ericsson has 10 goals and 42 points in 213 games-- with a Stanley Cup ring to boot. Also in the Central Division, Patric Hornqvist of the Nashville Predators was picked last in the 2005 Draft and has put up 67 goals and 129 points in 236 games with the Preds.

Keeping with the All-Star, Brian Elliott almost made this list, even with him being an All-Star-- but he was picked second-to-last in 2003 with the 291st pick by the Ottawa Senators, currently having career record of 76-58-18 over 165 games, with this year being his best on record.

While it's not horrible to be picked last, regardless of the fact, the success rate isn't always there....which I guess is why you're the last to be picked.

On the Topic Of the All-Star Game

So we're at the time of year where the All-Star Game is the next big thing on the NHL schedule. For years, people have been clamoring to see the NHL stars of today on one big stage and for them to play a competitive game with nothing more than pride of their conference on the line.

It was hard to write that without breaking up laughing.

But the ASG is a time-honored tradition that really has no way to actually quit or have a big meaning to it all. The weekend has two gimmicks leading up to the game-- the "Fantasy Draft" and the Skills Competition-- which get a lot more heat than the actual game itself. In fact, the only good things in the past couple of years that the NHL has done with the game is to have fans only pick the top-six rather than 12 and then have the fantasy draft.

If this was a legitimate thing, you'd have to think that four Ottawa Senators-- who are hosting the event this year-- wouldn't be in the starting line-up, in fact; they may not even be starters at all. Hell, four Sens is a stretch when it comes to the game. This just shows how stupid fan voting is. The "starters" of the game are all Eastern Conference players and represent three teams.

Also, if you wanted a true ASG, you wouldn't have to have all 30 teams represented. That's a great idea to have every team recognized in the biggest major event in the NHL schedule, but if there's a team that doesn't warrant it (because there's a few); they don't deserve to be there.

Yet, the All-Star Game format is one that almost needs to happen for a league to have some kind of legitimacy, I suppose. However, I think the concepts that have the best way is MLB, who has the winner get home-field advantage in the World Series, and the MLS, who has their All-Stars play an elite European team and string up interest in their sport that way.

However, the NHL is a league that is going to get their sport out there by promoting the big name stars, even if they don't deserve to be there-- like an Alex Ovechkin type, who isn't having a great year, but is still a big name and will be needed to be used when it comes to hyping the game up because of his recognition in the mainstream. There's probably plenty of guys who are more deserving than Ovechkin, but he'll get their spot because of the fact he's more noticeable.

The game itself is just a glorified pond hockey game with little flow to it and little meaning to it all. There's really no way to fix the game itself and it's meaningless quality because it would be too much of a risk if they were to play in a game against a team from overseas or to make some kind of home-ice situation, because that would make the whole regular season achievements moot and take away from the real thing.

That said, it's not something you can just take out. It's something for the fans and allows another adventure for people to go to that's not the Draft and allows them to see a game, as well. Considering the game is in Ottawa, of course they'll vote four Senators into the starting line-up, because they want to see their guys in their building. Plus, it's a popularity contest, so whoever the fans want-- the fans will see. The NHL will cater to guys, even if it's not technically correct.

For the people bitching about it, I agree to an extent. However, it's a necessary evil for a "major" league to be considered relevant. If you don't like it, don't watch it. Because I know I won't most likely.

Logos Aplenty

That logo above is for this year's Thanksgiving Showdown. To me, not only does it give the Bruins/Red Wings game a title, but it shows that the NHL love logos. They'll make a logo for any kind of event and will often make reasons to have their design team come up with something.

With that in mind, and the fact we're awaiting the player draft logo for this year's All-Star Game, a list of my favorite event logos that the NHL has rolled out with-- in no particular order, of course. (Thanks to SportsLogos.net for all the logos anyone could ever ask for.)

-Draft Logos 2001-2009: The reason these stand out is because there's not templated design like we see now. The identity of the teams were well represented in these logos, which gave it a personalized feel for the events in terms of the host city and allowed plenty of freedom for designers. Now, with the templated work they have now, it's basically just adding small elements of the host city in the already made main logo.

-2009 Winter Classic: While many of the Winter Classic logos do have elements of the host city into it, the iconic use of the Wrigley Field scoreboard helps set this one away from the rest. Plus, it's the only logo in the Winter Classic cluster that is tilted to give a three-dimensional appeal to it rather than just being flattened.

-1994 All-Star Game: New York City is one of, if not the most, iconic city in the world. Their skyline is one of the most memorable, so when you combine that with an All-Star logo, you're basically yelling for it to be a fantastic one. While the jersey selection disappointed, the logo itself is one of the more fantastic logos of any ASG.

But, I couldn't let the NHL have all the fun....

-1999 ECHL All-Star Game: Sure, it's not the NHL, but the incorporation of the coast line and the lighthouse element is pretty damn fancy for the ECHL.

-2011 AHL All-Star Game: Where to start-- the Bear slapping a Hershey's Kiss; the HersheyPark roller coaster coupled with the Hershey's chocolate factory, coupled with the Giant Center in the top silhouette; the team logo inclusion-- it all makes for a fantastic event logo.

Though, you always have to have a logo to show during the breaks and to promote a product (read: All-Star Fantasy Draft), some times it's a bit overkill....like this game and the event I mentioned in parenthesis. Yet, at the same time-- logo nuts like me will clamor for something like these to come out because we enjoy the aesthetics of it all.

Absurd Goalie Monday: Wilf Cude

Time to look back at a different time, a different era, and a time where we had a decent amount of British players in the league. This is a time were because franchises came and went, the goalies often were just hanging around, waiting for someone to get injured. Luckily, for this week's AGM-- he got on with a lot of teams because of injury. However, he has been blamed for being part of the darkest days of one of the leagues most hallowed franchises. This week, the profile of Wilf Cude.

Born in Barry, South Wales, Great Britain; Cude honed his craft when he moved over to Winnipeg, Manitoba, playing for St. Vital Athletic Club for three years and then moving to the senior leagues with the Winnipeg Wellingtons in the 1928-29 season. The 1929-30 season had Cude play with the Melville Millionaires, going 13-6-1 in 20 games that season.

In February of 1930, Cude signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates; but would never play a game there as the Pirates would relocated to Philadelphia and become the Quakers. The 1930-31, Cude would make his NHL debut with the Quakers, but would only go 2-25-3 in 30 games for the hapless Quakers, who could disband after the season.

With a lack of jobs, Cude would pretty much go anywhere and everywhere in the 1931-32 season. He would play two games with the Chicago Blackhawks (1-1-0), one game in relief for the Boston Bruins (no decision), and one game with the IHL's Syracuse Stars (a tie). Cude would spend most of the time that season in the Can-Am League with the Boston Cubs, finishing with a 7-7-1 record in 15 games. Cude played in the Can-Am again in the 1932-33 season, while returning to Philadelphia with the Arrows, going 21-9-2 in 32 games, then 2-3 in five playoff games.

In a cross-league trade, Cude was traded from Philadelphia to the Montreal Canadiens before the 1933-34 season, but would only play one games (a win and shutout) for the Canadiens. Cude would play in the IHL for 19 games with Syracuse (no record available), before the Canadiens loaned out Cude to the Detroit Red Wings for a bulk of the season. With the Wings, Cude went 15-6-8 with four shutouts, then going 4-5 in nine playoff games.

Cude would be returned to the Canadiens in the 1934-35 season, compiling a 19-23-6 record in 48 games, then 0-1-1 in two playoff games. It would be a bit worse for Cude in the 1935-36 season, only putting up a 11-26-10-- though he did have six shutouts in that season. The 1936-37 season was a bounce-back year for Cude, going 22-17-5 in 47 games, but going 2-3 in five playoff games. Back for the 1937-38 campaign, Cude had a 18-17-12 record, then 1-2 in the playoffs. The 1938-39 season saw Cude split work with Claude Bourque, as Cude played in 23 games with an 8-11-4 record.

For the 1939-40 season, Cude lost his spot with the Canadiens after only seven games (1-5-1) and spent most of the season in the AHL with the New Haven Eagles, playing in 44 games with a 23-18-1 record, then going 1-2 in three playoff games. Cude would return to the Canadiens again in the 1940-41 season, but only for three games, completing with a 2-1 record before retiring.

To note, Cude played in the Howie Morenz Memorial Game and the Babe Siebert Memorial Game, which were two of the first few All-Star games to take place.

After hockey, Cude owned a private distribution company in Quebec for British American Oil. After a lengthy illnes, Cude passed away in May of 1968 at the age of 57. Cude is an Honored Member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

He wasn't the biggest guy and didn't seem to have the most routine route to the NHL; he stuck to it and kept himself out there before getting the break he needed in Montreal. It just shows that if you stick around through the toughest of times, you will get rewarded at some point in time.

Friday Five: Skating and Fighting are Two Things Goalies Do

It's been quite the odd week coming out of All-Star Weekend, which seemed to give a nice punch in the arms to the traditional ASG. Plus, we saw others going back onto the IR after another a poor decision-- which is something you could say throughout his career.

1. Rick DiPietro is back on the IR with facial fractures and knee swelling. How's that make everyone feel??

You have to feel bad for DiPietro, but when you see him make a poor decision like fighting with 17 second left in the game-- you kinda knew something like this would come from it. The knee swelling is nothing new, though and odds are he would probably be out a bit from that, but when he got lit up by Brent Johnson-- you knew it was just a matter of time before this news would come out. Worse off, Evgeni Nabokov still sits-- which maybe isn't a bad thing. As friend of FOHS, Anthony pointed out-- Nabby could ruin the Isles lottery chances if he played out of his mind and got the Isles on a little run-- which would make the Isles fans hate him more.

2. Which was more unlikely to see-- goalie race at the skills competition or the goalie fight??

Both are very rare and should be looked at in awe. However, it's more likely to get the goalie fight than to have a goalie race, that is only one race and happens once-a-year, if the Olympics to see. Even so, unless the games get out of hand-- we won't get a goalie fight in the NHL all that often, because we haven't seen one since 2007 in the regular season. Oddly enough, I liked both sides of things, but the race was more of a dance-off, where the fights are actually settling things once and for all. But the goalie race is all but a guarantee for ASG weekend now, but goalie fights are much more unlikely in the NHL.

3. After this All-Star Weekend, how much more of a change can we expect out of future events??

There will probably be some adjustments to some of the events during the Skills session, but in the end not much will be needed to be changed. The NHL did a lot of tinkering and it seemed to work on an idea that many hate because of the fact it's not real competition. When all is said and done-- the atmosphere was right, the festivities were great by all accounts, and things worked out well. To be honest, I believe you have to have the ASGs in places that are not hardcore hockey moments,

4. With the retirement of Craig Conroy, have we seen the last of the non-cliched players in the league??

I don't think we'll see one that was a good as Conroy. We have the Sean Avery and BizNasty types, but people hate him. It'll be a long time before we see a likable guy who doesn't throw out cliche lines again. With all the media training some people get in juniors and such-- a lot of guys lose their personality and only the muckers and grinders have personality-- but not many care for what they have to say because they're trying to put themselves over. Maybe PK Subban will carry the torch, but odds are he'll get roped in before he could actually make the dent Conroy did.

5. While the Bolts jerseys are getting pans and praised-- are there any jerseys that you hated or liked, then had a change of heart??

First and foremost, I hate the Caps new Edge jerseys when they first came out; as I mentioned when in Sombrero Guy's hotel room before we went to the Draft in Columbus. Yet, I love the Caps unis, especially the weagle patch. I think I finally came around to the Minnesota Wild's Christmas jerseys they use, as I did with the Atlanta Thrashers' baby-blue jerseys with the one-sleeve. At first I liked the Ducks' jerseys when they dropped the "mighty"-- but I turned on them when I thought there were really plain and then realized their alternates are what they should have done. Pretty sure that's all, but probably much more.

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And that's another week in the books. If you have questions or idea-- email me Scotty.Wazz@Gmail.com and give me some ideas or whatever. If you don't-- same clap-trap you get every week.

Friday Five: Weekend of Some-Stars

The weekend is upon us and it could be used to dig out for the vast majority of you or you could hunker down and watch the All-Star festivities. Both are tasks that could be worse than death, depending who you are; but which is the lesser of two evils-- that's what you have to ask yourself.

1. What's the event of this weekend that's really what you're looking forward to??

I think the new addition of the player draft is something that is a great idea and is what I think I'll be waiting for what turns out. To be honest, this goes with the retro route the NHL has taken with the outdoor games and the modernized retro jerseys many teams have instilled in their set. It could be one of the better changes that the NHL has put into an All-Star Weekend since the Skills Competition was put into place in 1990.

Also, can't wait to hear from the group of media people that I follow on Twitter to post pictures of sights, sound, and savory foodage which they'll partake in while in Raleigh. (Like Greg Wyshynski, Sean Leahy, Craig Custance, and Joe Yerdon)

2. What's your favorite moment of the All-Star Weekend from the past??

As a Caps fan, Al Iafrate's 105.2 MPH slapshot in Montreal was pretty bad-ass, with is Skullet flowing through the air. Nowadays, you can get guys constantly throwing out 103's with the technology of sticks, but with Iafrate carrying that ancient wood stick, it was a thing of beauty. More modern, Dany Heatley's performance in his first All-Star game was fun, if only for Jeremy Roenick's commentary while he was playing alongside Heatley.

3. Why is everyone so down about the All-Star Game and hunger for competitive games??

The All-Star Weekend is really just a mini-summer vacation for hockey fans, especially on Twitter. It's almost like people don't have hobbies outside of hockey; which is fine if that's your deal-- but sometimes people need a break, players need a break, and then sanity can be restored. This isn't as bad as from the Free Agency period start until training camp, but it's getting a bit more aggravating to deal with.

4. Is there any chance that Evgeni Nabokov doesn't show up to Long Island??

This past week on Face Off Hockey Show, we had our "Na-Back-On Pool" when he'll return and I said it'd be by Valentine's Day. He's going to have to swallow his pride if he's wants to get off of Long Island during the summer, because he still belongs to Long Island, even if he doesn't play because of the crazy contract rules. If he wants to play in the NHL, he'll actually suck it up and play on Long Island to sport his wears and maybe get a windfall of attention like Dwayne Roloson did and actually get a better gig.

5. What stone-cold locks do you have for the unofficial second-half of the year??

First, I think the Coyotes situation will sort itself out.....but then it won't and we'll be in the same boat we were last year. Second, the Canucks will falter due to the injuries to Alex Edler and Sami Salo still trying to work out from his injuries, they'll still stay on top of the Northwest, but they'll be slowed down. Finally, the New Jersey Devils will rally for a big second-half run....then miss the playoffs by five points and will get the 14th overall pick rather than a shot at the #1 pick.

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That's it for this week, but if you have questions-- I have sarcastic answers for it all. Email me at Scotty.Wazz@gmail.com and you can ask your questions for a future Friday Five. Enjoy your weekend folks, All-Star or not.

Taking the ASG Outside

It's time for All-Star Weekend, with many people begrudgingly accepting this game and many refusing to watch and maybe shoveling themselves out of the snow-maggedon that's happening throughout the continent. But is there something that could actually make people take interest in this whole thing again, because it is a glorified shinny game-- we can all agree on that.

The only answer to this-- take it outside. Make the All-Star Game the Winter Classic and away you go.

There is an understanding that the NHL won't let this happen because you're combining two big moneymaking ventures and putting it into one, which not only takes away a revenue day for the NHL, but takes a revenue day away from another city. That alone could make it a deterrent for people to get on board, especially after the NHL is in its fifth year of revenue growth, which you can probably bank is on its ability to get sponsorship for their special events like the All-Star Game and Winter Classic as separate entities. Yet, while the money will be the big factor, that's about all I can see as a turn-off to making two become one, like so much Spice Girls. It almost seems like it makes sense in all honesty on a number of reasons.

First, while the appeal of playing a regular season game outside is something amazing, the fact remains it still is a league game and if push comes to shove, it could turn into a turning point in the standings for one of the teams if the conditions are perfect or they lose a player to injury because of the conditions. The All-Star Game as the Winter Classic could be something where the speed isn't going to be a factor, because it's already at a slower pace than a regular season game. Plus, there's not going to be much contact, thus the rate of injury from that goes down. The only concern is the ice condition, which could play a factor, but I don't know how much of one in the end since Dan Craig is a G-D magician with the conditions of the ice.

Second, players may not be inclined to decline an invitation because they want the weekend of rest. Now, injuries have played a factor into the lack of star power, but when the rosters were revealed, the amount of head-shaking of the "snubs" was monumental or something. But players may want to have the experience of playing outside and wouldn't have their GM lobby to keep them off the roster to rest if they want to participate something on this scale. Granted, you'll have situations like Jarome Iginla and Roberto Luongo dealing with family-- which is noble and family comes first. However, if it's just precautionary-- then it's a disservice to the league to have their best players sitting out because they don't want to "exert" themselves with this game.

Third, the outdoor game could go anywhere, which is something that the Winter Classic can't promise. The fact of the matter is that the Winter Classic is a game that's usually reserved for a match-up people will watch on TV; like the Caps/Pens and the Hawks/Wings. That means that most teams won't be apart of a match-up on the Winter Classic, even if they have some kind of stars on their team-- like Rick Nash on the Blue Jackets. This All-Star Game does a lot of the league-- it displays the stars of each team on a giant scale and if it's outside, you know the buzz will be there because people will watch the outdoor game even if they aren't interested in the outcome of the All-Star setting. It will also allow the game to travel around to markets that may not get a Winter Classic game because it's not a prime destination to make ice, even though like I said-- Dan Craig is a magician. Fans in those locales will enjoy seeing this possible once-in-a-lifetime event and see all the stars play like how they learn-- from a frozen pond.

The biggest stopping point is the money and revenue that the separate events bring in. If you combine the two into the one event, it slices the revenue in half and will probably kill a lot of the travel and buzz about the Winter Classic since it's a gimmick within a gimmick. Fans may not buy into it, but to make people care about the All-Star game-- player and fan alike, this seems like a no-brainer. But, with money being the biggest thing that comes in from both of these-- it'll probably never happen at all.

Friday Five: Week of Waivering

With all the moving and shaking on the waiver-wire, we get to the Friday Five with probably the biggest fish on the waiver-wire as the weekend starts up....if he makes it that far.

1. Evgeni Nabokov signed with the Red Wings, but has to go through the waiver process. Where will he end up??

There's a lot of things going on about how the Red Wings will keep them and the deal they're going to strike up with the New Jersey Devils, who have first priority of the team. However, there's the obvious candidates of the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators, but the San Jose Sharks could be in the market-- which would be ironic when it comes to Nabokov leaving the Sharks because he was low-balled in the contract negotiations. But at $570k, he's very affordable for any team that could need a veteran presence in net. Nabokov hits waivers at 12:01 PM ET Friday.

2. The St. Louis Blues seemed to be bit by the waiver bug, as they've had two guys plucked from waivers for them. Who did they piss off to have something like this to happen??

The Blues seem to bring about the affordable contract that's very enticing to other teams out there. Yet, while the Marek Svatos loss hurt, I don't think that Kyle Wellwood getting plucked off is too much of a big deal. Even so, you have to feel bad for the Blues-- who have been bit by the injury bug in a bad way, and just needed to get some more guys in order to stay competitive while guys like TJ Oshie and David Perron are on the mend. Plus, it seems that Jaroslav Halak and the rest of the team hit a bit of a skid, but have gotten a little bit back on track since then. Luckily, the Blues are only three points out of the 8th spot in the West and no one seems to want to take control of the final playoff spot, which could suit the Blues fine if they can keep playing consistently.

3. Could the coaching change in New Jersey really have turned the Devils around??

While they are 23 points out of a playoff spot, the coaching changes seems to have brought back the Devils in some aspect. The Devils have won four of their last five and scored 20 goals in those games. Martin Brodeur has had a bounce-back to sorts, while Ilya Kovalchuk finally woke up a slight bit during this. While they won't make the playoffs and actually ruin their chance to get the first overall pick, but they will do their best to save face and try to actually show they're a better team than 2010 showed this season.

4. Don Cherry says a new head shot rule isn't needed, it's just more respect between players. How crazy is he??

To be honest, and I may be an apologist for Cherry, but he's right to a point. The respect between players isn't there anymore and that's something that should be spotted when you see a lot of these plays that result in serious injury. Now, not only is it up for the NHL to maybe define the head shot a little better and clearer, but the NHLPA has to step up and talk to their membership about the lack of respect there. Question why they would go out and take out a vulnerable guy, even though both guys are in the same membership and are just trying to make a living playing a game. While there's a rule needed, Cherry is right when it comes to respect being a focal point, as well.

5. The All-Star captains are Eric Staal and Nicklas Lidstrom. People are doing mock drafts for who's going to get picked in the pick-up game format. Biggest question-- who's picked last??

Scientifically, it really depends on how the picks go. We've all played some kind of pick-up sport in school or recreationally that you usually try to take advantage of bad picks because of friendships, but you also adapt to the pick of the other captain. My two picks for the last pick are Brent Burns and Claude Giroux. With Burns, there's a lot of good defensemen and he's probably lost in the fold when it comes to the other all-stars. Giroux could also get lost in the fold, but I don't think as badly as Burns would. Giroux is a solid player, but is he better or more revered than other skaters on that list?? Probably not, but he'll be a good addition and may get picked towards the bottom. If I had to pick on, Burns would be my ultimate last pick.

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That's another week and if you have any topics during the week when it comes what you want to see in the Friday Five, Scotty.Wazz@Gmail.com is the place to send stuff to and I'll do what I can to touch on them at the week's end.

On the Topic of the All-Star Game

I know there are not many people out there who like the concept of the All-Star Game, which is fine. I enjoy it and I think it's something that's good for getting the game out there if you have the right people there in the first place. That said, with the roster of players to be chosen being named-- it's kind of odd when it comes to some players being included and excluded.

Let's be honest, though, odds are some GMs are telling the powers-that-be that they don't want so-and-so in the pool of players because of one reason or another. Fact is, the best players should be named-- and if they don't play because of a mysterious injury....so be it.

But, when you look at the pool of players, it seems to be liked across the board for the majority. Inclusions of the likes of Dustin Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom show it's not always about the marketable players, but guys who have skill are being recognized. The fact that Nicklas Lidstrom is the only Red Wing from that super-group of a team makes me scratch my head on why someone like Henrik Zetterberg isn't on the list.

Of course, some of that has to do with the inclusion of every team into the All-Star Weekend. First, there's only four teams who won't have a player in the All-Star Game, but will be represented in the Rookie Skills competition-- Florida, Phoenix, NY Islanders, and Buffalo-- which I think is a bit asinine to only have them in the one day and not the other. Secondly, this game should be about showcasing the best players the NHL has to offer-- not to show all the teams out there in the league; because legitimately they won't be shown to a national audience-- why play the sympathy role by throwing them a bone?? Because it's the right thing to do?? It's a cop-out...but so is the selection process, both fan voting and powers-that-be process; though that's another argument for another time. If a team doesn't have a star, you can't force them to provide one when they'd be taking a spot of someone more deserving.

Another thing that bugs me, aside from everyone being represented, is the fact that five of the six goalies in the pool are from the Eastern Conference. If that's not a case for "East Coast Bias" then I don't know what is. In any case, this is a prime example of the best players being picked, regardless of pressure from someone like Jonathan Quick, who's have a solid season out in LA......oh, and ROBERTO LUONGO!! It's a bit interesting about the five East goalies, but it's something that helps my first point that it should be the best players in there, regardless.

This game is for the casual fan. This is to get people who may have been hooked with the Winter Classic a little more knowledge about the game and players and the teams. Granted, they won't get the full feel if my ideal of "Not all teams get in there" gimmick works, but like I said-- they won't see them on national TV anyway, so the hell with it. The point is, this isn't going to be the hardcore fans who actually are offended this is still going on. This is for people who just like the game in it's purest shinny form and for the casual fan who will have time to learn some of the bigger name players and the teams they belong to; which could rope them into watching a real game and get the actual feel for the game rather than the shinny of it all.

If you don't like it, you don't have to watch it; but don't bother those that do enjoy it; regardless of why. If you watch it-- maybe you can debate on why one guy would be better than another or just mimic it MST3K style like I probably will. Just because I like it, doesn't mean I can't mock it.

(Also, if there's a fantasy draft with the Ice Girls of the league-- I want in on that voting.)

Fixing the ASG

According to TSN's guru Darren Dreger, the All-Star Game process will be fixed in a way that the captains of the two sides will be picking their own team. This way, the players will be in control of the roster where "game recognizes game."

The best part about this is the exclusion of the fans from this process. On The Show and in the media for years, we've talked about the stupidity of fans when it comes to voting. Especially with the internet being as popular as it is today, campaigns like "Vote for Rory," where Rory Fitzpatrick would get voted onto the All-Star team; and now more recently with a possible "Vote for BizNasty" which would be the same by with Paul Bissonnette, it's proof positive that the fans don't take it seriously.

And they shouldn't have to.

But at the same time, you'd think they'd want some kind of respectible roster for this glorified shiny game; but since it is a shiny game in the end-- you can't be surprised or repulsed by the mockery they make of the once prideful exhibition. The game itself doesn't have the same shine it used to have and when people get tired of it-- they'll do anything to wreck it or to at least get it noticed that it needs to get fixed in some fashion or another. You'd think that the NHL would get it and the fan's mockery would give the game a whole overhaul.

Not so much.

But the captain's picking the team is somewhat of a change. Whether it's a step in the right direction or not, who's to say-- but it's a step. The next thing is to do something to make it meaningful again because there's no such thing as conference pride. I doubt the MLB model, where the winner is the home-team of the Stanley Cup final, will be what curses it all and give it meaning; but something more needs to be done. While this is a solid change, more has to be done about it. I also don't think putting it as the Winter Classic would work because it'd limit the options the places that could hold it....though with technology, it could be anywhere, I'm sure. Plus, it'd take out an outdoor regular season game-- which would be so bad in the end and the picking of the teams would bring back the pick-up aspect.

In any case, the captains would have to live and die with their decision and it'll create some more interesting subplots if they selected a player over another more qualified player. Also, does this mean that each team has to be represented it or does that go out the window now and it's pretty much free reign?? Granted-- picking from 15 teams shouldn't be too hard, but in the same breath-- if you're put under the gun to pick someone from a non-star-studded team over a player who's decent but already has a representative from their team-- it'd be rough to deal with the perimeters.

The best part about this, the game could have players everyone can enjoy rather than fans picking a player based on an internet meme. While we all enjoy the hilarity aspect of an often healthy scratch or fringe player being a starter in the ASG, it definitely signaled the need for change to the whole ASG format. Maybe this is the start of a complete overhaul or if this is the complete overhaul, but at least some kind of steps are being made.....or not-- it's hard to tell for now.

What Have We Learned: Skills Competition

The most exciting part of the All-Star Weekend, the Skills Competition, was held tonight and I must say-- there was some good, some bad, some ugly; but it happened. Here's what we learned.

-Need for Speed: I honestly believe that Mike Gartner could have come out and won this event at 40+ years of age. Not to knock on the skaters in the event, but no one coming close to a sub-13 second time makes me wonder what the hell is going on.

-Breakaway Challenged: There was a lot of tricks put out, but it was very bland as a whole for this event. A lot of nice stickhandling moves by the participants, but it was the same thing over and over again. Luckily, Alex Ovechkin's flair helped save the whole deal with his tourist motif he put on with an assist to Evgeni Malkin.

-YoungStars Killer: I can understand allow a time for people to text in their vote for the Breakaway gimmick, but this game was like a pregnancy-- it was a flow killer. Leave this game to open the events and then go into the Skills Comp. Put the breakaway deal at the start and let the fans test their votes through the last event or something like that. Put a time limit on it. Do something, but don't ruin the flow of the Skills Comp.

-The Price is Wrong: It's only an exhibition, but Carey Price looked very shaky. I know he's been on the shelf, but you have to wonder what's this kid's confidence level is right now. We'll see what he can bring to the All-Star Game, but it may be time for Price to re-focus himself.

-Accuracy in Marketing: It wasn't so much how well Malkin did going 4-for-4 and 3-for-4 in OT, but how the NHL is selling sponsorship on anything. Gotta love the McDonald's accuracy plates.

-Skullet Unseat: Thanks to composite sticks and insane genetics, Zdeno Chara set a new Hardest Shot record with 105.4 MPH (169.62 KPH). It was nice to see that Chara was able to fashion a toque out of a bookmark, but if that's his crazy Slovakian style, more power to him.

-Elimination of Insomnia: Great idea, somewhat good execution, but boring as hell. At least this was something everyone was in on and gave them a chance to shine, which is what Shane Doan did in winning the whole thing. Maybe think of something different for next time and maybe get all six goalies in on it rather than just four.

All in all, it was a very dull skills competition in comparison to other years, at least what I can remember. I don't know why they don't give the goalies more events, but I guess the risk of injury is a little much for them, but still. They'll get lit up during tomorrow's game-- that's for sure, but that's the way this glorified shinny game is supposed to be like anyway. Pick the over in this game folks.

Face the Media or Face the Music

I think there's a lot of people who will consider the NHL All-Star Game as a farce, a glorified shinny game, and something that proves nothing to no one. I wouldn't disagree, that's for sure, but the whole ideal of the All-Star Game is to collect the NHL's greatest stars (fan voting aside) and have them in one place at one time for the fans to take in their demi-god status.

There seems to be an uproar about Gary Bettman and the NHL's decision to discipline the players who do not show up for the festivities. The lay of the land set out by Bettman is that a player would only be exempt if they missed the last game before the All-Star break or one game after it's done. Now, that doesn't mean they have to play-- they just need to show up, sign some autographs, wave, maybe take some pictures-- then they can take in the life of what it is to be in Montreal, which is what Sidney Crosby will do. However, for guys like Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, they will miss their first game back as healthy scratches, which I'm sure Red Wings fans are just very keen to hear.

Yet, at the same time-- it's a genius thing to do and really something that will keep the sponsorship money (which is $10M this year) rolling in and keep the top stars in one collective in one way, shape, or form. Sure, people can shell out for season tickets to see these players every one and a while-- however, especially in these tough economic times, this weekend is the one true way to see all the top players in one area at one time unless they somehow decide to have bar-b-que in the summer and sell off passes on eBay....which may not be a bad event, truth be told-- only if the Ice Girls are there in a swimsuits.

If the NHL wants to get more sponsorship money from their current sponsors, as well get more sponsors on board, they need to have all their stars there and not sitting at home resting. Sure, the players need to rest and baby some injuries, but what does it hurt to just show up for the other festivities out there?? They can still get their rest, get a free vacation out of it, and maybe munch on a hot dog or something. It's good for the game to have the player show up, though it'd be better if they played. A little face time can go a long way into promoting the game off the ice when they can't be on the ice.

James Mirtle has more in a much more eloquent way than my rambling ever could.

All Star Mockery

It's ASG voting time again and it seems that the hometown Montreal Canadiens are popular.....very popular. In fact, rumor has it they are about 80,000 votes more popular that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. The top-five forwards are Saku Koivu (128,737), Alexei Kovalev (127,760), Alex Tanguay (126,371), Alexander Semin (56,216), and Alex Ovechkin (37,483) as of 10:09 PM MT. To note, Sidney Crosby is sixth with 28,743.

The defense is much worse with the top three being Andrei Markov (137,597), Mike Komisarek (128,651), and Zdeno Chara (29,014). Goaltending, forgetaboutit-- Carey Price is at 139,841 and Henrik Lundqvist is in second with 43,994.

If you can't spot the problem here, you need to go back and watch some Sesame Street and go to the "One of these things is not like the other" segment.

Every since the lockout, this bizarre voting has been insane. It started with Rory Fitzpatrick and expanded into people coming up with programs to randomly vote for whomever and stuff the box as it were. Leahy has commented on the irregularities and Shynner has as well, with Shynner also showing off other who are getting campaigns for write-ins....some warranted, some not so much.

But could we stop this effin' idea that voting in some random third or fourth liner because we think it's funny?? The Rory Fitzpatrick thing was original and was used to make a mockery out of the whole voting process, but now even that's being made a mockery of.

The worst part, the NHL more than likely won't do anything about it-- especially since the Habs are hosting the event. Even if they weren't would they do something?? Probably not. Why should they-- they're getting publicity, they can tout they got record high voting numbers for an ASG, and they'll play to the hometown fans by having their players start in the game if this keeps steady.

Fan voting sucks-- plain and simple, especially with the internet era having all these programs and scripts to run for multiple voting. This stuff will continue to happen until the NHL does one of two things. First, they can limit the voting to five times per IP address, though even that isn't something that is a sure fire stopper. My second idea is to keep in tune with this retro theme the NHL has been going on with the third jerseys-- back to paper ballots like in the old days. You can only pick up ballots at the arena or national sponsors-- like Best Buy or you local Honda retailer. The only issue you'd be dealing with in that is the enviromentalist crawling up the NHL's ass about wasting paper and the thought of a "hanging chad" incident like so much 2000 US Election.

But...since it seems to be the fad for the recent past; I, Scotty Wazz, will be getting onto the bandwagon and want all of my fateful readers (and everyone you know who will listen to you) to vote for New Jersey Devils forward Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, not just because he could have possibly the longest name in history.....actually, it is. Plus, he's from Quebec, so he'll be accepted by the Montreal fans.