Friday 13 January 2012

NHL All-Star Game 2012

This week the NHL filled out the rosters for the 2012 Tim Hortons All-Star game in Ottawa. 6 "starters" were chosen by the public and it's no surprise that Ottawa fans crashed the vote to ensure they league the league with 4 representatives, they are Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson. The other 2 players voted in by the public are Dion Phaneuf of the Maple Leafs (big market that Toronto is) and reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe trophy winner Tim Thomas of the Bruins. In selecting the other 36 the NHL obviously was looking to balance the rosters between all 30 teams, but that begs the question, why? If the idea of an all-star game is to pick players from almost every team to make sure everyone is represented, they may as well go back to pee wee hockey and make sure everybody has fun instead of trying to create the spectacle fans lust for by naming the best 36 players not selected by the public.

As I was already aware of the 6 "starters" (from now on I'll refer to them as tokens, as only Thomas deserves to be there as a first choice) I decided to try and fill out the rest of the rosters myself, and continuing with the NHL's fantasy draft system, an idea which I am a big fan of if only to see the look on Phil Kessel's face as he was picked last in 2011 which you can view here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLqceZLfUk
As I had no idea who would be picked as teams captains or alternate captains, I decided that the honour should go to the hometown captain Daniel Alfredsson and the league's poster boy (or girl depending on your opinion of last June's Stanley Cup finals) Henrik Sedin. From this point I filled out my rosters and then grabbed a friend who knew nothing about hockey and we made our schoolyard picks.

Team Alfredsson
Forwards
Michalek OTT
Spezza OTT
Alfredsson OTT
Nash CBJ
Bergeron BOS
Perry ANA
Benn DAL
Malkin PIT
Seguin BOS
Lupul TOR
Couture SJ
Hossa CHI
Defensemen
Timonen PHI
Doan PHX
Chara BOS
Byfuglien WIN
Karlsson OTT
Weber NSH
Goalies
Thomas BOS
Anderson OTT
Quick LA


Team Henrik
Forwards
D Sedin VAN
H Sedin VAN
Zetterberg DET
Datsyuk DET
Stamkos TB
Kessel TOR
Gaborik NYR
Toews CHI
Kane CHI
Elias NJ
Giroux PHI
Pominville BUF
Defensemen
Phaneuf TOR
Cambell FLA
Keith CHI
Boyle SJ
Lidstrom DET
Del Zotto NYR
Goalies
Lundqvist NYR
Howard DET
Elliott STL

A quick head count will tell you I got 31/42 including the tokens, but this masks my true ire on the subject. Notable omissions include Patrice Bergeron, Henrik Zetterberg, Michael Del Zotto and Jonathan Quick.

The thing that really grates me is Bergeron's omission, I mean I get that the NHL doesn't really have the need for a top defensive forward in the All-Star game however they have included 3 time Selke winner Pavel Datsyuk and perennial front runner Jonathan Toews. Bergeron was second in the playoffs last season in plus/minus, second in assists, 60% in faceoffs, scored 2 shorties and this season he's even better. He's 3rd in faceoff percentage with 57.6% behind David Steckel and Jonathan Toews, third in plus/minus, he leads the Bruins in assists and is arguably the biggest part of the Bruins leading the Northeast.

Even although Zetterberg is playing below his own lofty standards this season, he's exactly the type of player you'd want in this contest as shown by last week's shootout winner against Phoenix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYKy9TPj7b4

Del Zotto has been a standout in the Rangers resurgence and their current lead of the Eastern Conference, sure the Rangers have a defensemen in the game, but why not have 2? He's the only non-Bruin in the top 5 plus/minus and he's chipped in with 18 assists and 84 hits, good for top 25 in the league for defensemen.

Jonathan Quick is top 5 in the league in save percentage and goals against average, 3 of the 4 ahead of him in those categories have been named as All-Stars, the other is Tuukka Rask. I suppose he lost out to Carey Price because we can't have 0 Habs in the All-Star game, no matter how rank they've been this season.

All is not lost however as I took the list of players who did make the game and produced another fantasy draft with my friend, the highlight of which is a line of the Sedin sisters and Corey Perry up against Datsyuk, Toews and Seguin. We can only hope the real All-Stars can come up with something similar, or at least leave Kessel til last again this year.

@Materialista27

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