The NHL is debating having the All-Star teams be 'drafted' by the captains of the All-Star game (From what I understand the starting line ups would be selected by the fans, then the hockey operations department would pick a pool of players for the rest of the all-star slots, then the captains would pick out the teams.)
I thought of doing a mock article about this in someway, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, this idea is just far too cool. I am on board with this and I hope they go through with it.
While I would honestly get a kick out of watching Henrik and Sidney going to center ice and tossing sticks from a pile left and right at the All-Star game, the NHL could get some easy media exposure by having the captains either select the teams on TV (yay source of revenue) or have an on ice event at the skills contest where before they start, the captains choose the team, do the skills contest, then next day, play the all-star game.
Honestly, the all-star game is boring as ****, so it's nice to see the NHL actually do something smart here to liven it up a bit. Aside from having the Stanley Cup champion take on the league all-stars (with the amount of money involved in todays game we will never see that, could you imagine a 4th liner playing against league all-stars, just running around trying to take off heads in a meaningless game?), this idea is at least on par with the SC Champs vs All-Stars idea. This not only connects the NHL to its fans (because who hasn't lined up and picked or been picked for a team when you were young? Unless you're the kid they always picked last. Then this could be a potential nightmare scenario for you as you re-live your failed childhood. I was always picked first or second, I don't understand your pain.....), but it also makes the game more interesting as we could potentially have some interesting lineups take place, rather than just the usual East vs West lineups.
In the end, let's face it. The All-Star game is nothing more than a glorified game of shinny. We will never be able to make it that interesting because real hockey, true hockey, that requires some intensity. Something an All-Star game will never have, now that Jeremy Roenick is no longer around to throw the one body check per all-star game that he used to do. So to the people who claim that this is just a gimmick, or that the captains will have a bias in picking, oh well. The entire game is a gimmick, so we might as well spruce it up a bit. It's like if we had a circus, why bring out just the clowns? We might as well bring out the flaming elephants while we're at it. Remember, bringing out the gimmicks brought us this:
Think about it, when was the last time you were really excited about an All-Star game? You never go to an All-Star game thinking "Oh man, I can't wait for slowed down NHL hockey, a game that lacks intensity, has no hitting, no defence, and we play a goal horn no matter who scores!!!". No. You go into an All-Star game thinking, maybe not consciously, but sub-consciously, you are thinking "Oh man, Ovechkin is going to deke out 5 guys, put Crosby through the glass (who cares if he is on the same team, you can't stop All-Star Ovie!), soccer kick Luongo in the face, then elbow out two of Henriks teeth before moonwalking in all alone on Kipper and scoring a goal with his face." You are expecting amazing things. What usually ends up happening is Chris Pronger scores on a wrist shot that gets tipped in by an unguarded Stamkos and we are forced to politely applaud their efficient if not boring goal.
This is why for a game desperate for personality, I think we can afford to let the All-Star game get a bit out of hand. Besides, could you imagine the articles that would be written if Henrik had to pick teams and he didn't choose Daniel? That sort of thing would keep the Vancouver media in business for months.
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