All-Star rosters....somebody missed something??

flea · Post by **flea** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:17 pm

I just reviewed the All-Star rosters for next All-Star in Dallas and first i thought it was a joke what I was reading:

Simon Gagne and Jason Blake over Ilya Kovalchuk and Jaromir Jagr???? And what the heck are Bill Guerin, Yannick Perrault and even Ryan Smyth doing as All-Stars this season???
Marc Savard is ranked 8th in points....wouldnt he deserve to be in the All-Star roster?? Or Jarome Iginla (think he is injured, but as far as I know hes day-to-day)??

Dont know, but these All-Stars doesnt convince me at all....

What are you thoughts guys??

EASTERN CONFERENCE ROSTER

GOALTENDERS
* Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Cristobal Huet, Montreal Canadiens

DEFENSEMEN

* Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres
* Sheldon Souray, Montreal Canadiens
Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs
Brian Rafalski, New Jersey Devils

FORWARDS

* Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
* Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
* Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres
Jason Blake, New York Islanders
Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers
Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
Marian Hossa, Atlanta Thrashers
Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes

WESTERN CONFERENCE ROSTER

GOALTENDERS

* Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames
Marty Turco, Dallas Stars

DEFENSEMEN

* Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks
* Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Philippe Boucher, Dallas Stars
Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators
Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles Kings

FORWARDS

* Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
* Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
* Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks
Bill Guerin, St. Louis Blues
Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
Yanic Perreault, Phoenix Coyotes
Brian Rolston, Minnesota Wild
Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks
Ryan Smyth, Edmonton Oilers
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:23 pm

Where is Rory?

For sure, some players don't seem to have their place here...

But they'll offer you a superb game, as they're selected for the Cold-FX All-Star Money...hum...Game!...

flea · Post by **flea** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:25 pm

Shadd666 wrote:Where is Rory?

I think Rory was 25000 votes too short, but if I recall right he finished third or fourth in the voting

Post by **batdad** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:30 pm

Marc Savard not there because the Eastern Team assistant coach is his best friend in Atlanta...Bob Hartley. Yeah, they are tight.

The biggest issue I have with it is that they have once again managed to put a player from each and every team on the rosters. Um...sorry not right.

Another two people to mention that could have/should have been there, at least ahead of Perrault, Guerin...The Sedin Twins. Daniel/Henrik and Roberto are the only reasons the Canucks are where they are now. Well Mitchell and however you prefer to spell Bieska/Biekska/Bieksa as well. People really got to start noticing the stuff these two do on the ice together. It is scary good. Separate they are good players, together they control and I mean control and take over hockey games. Noone can check em. It is unreal how much time they can spend with the other team chasing them in their own end.

Not to mention that according to Sat Night HNiC Broadcast...The Canucks have the greatest Swedes ever, and the most on one team.
Apparently the Canucks have Mats Naslund, TWO Sundins, Thomas Gradin, and some guy whose parents are "mr and Mrs mom and dad of Kevin". God I wish they had Hakan Loob.

Gotta love Bob and Harry.

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:47 pm

For the record, Jagr declined to go.

I agree, though. The rosters are a joke.

BruceM · Post by **BruceM** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:58 am

I don't have a real problem with it. Like any sports All-Star teams there always some snubs, but at the end of the day it's inevitable. I believe the guys who are there are deserving. You can't have 45 man rosters, so obviously some very desrving players aren't going to be there.

Maybe it's time to have two all-star games. There's certainly enough good players to make 4 teams. They could hold a game in the afternoon and one in the evening. Have a Western Conference city host one and an Eastern Conference city host the other.

Have the "A" Team from the East play the "A" Team from the west, and the "B" Teams play each other.

Of course then you'd still get the same arguement about "how the heck did so & so only make the "B" team and the other so & so made the "A" team. You just can't win.

If you let the fans vote, you get some dumb choices, just look at the Rory situation. If you let the media decide, you get dumb choices, and if you let the NHL brass/coaches/GM's, decide, you'll get some dumb choices. Like the old saying goes, you can't satisfy all the people all the time.

Post by **Minstrel** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:25 pm

Well, the rosters can never be as bad as when they forced it into the North America vs The World format a few years back

This however is a non-game so I don't really care who makes it, but like baseball they again have this hang up on making sure someone from every team makes it and some teams rightly deserve to not recieve consideration and adding someone from them just to make sure all teams are represented does a dis-service to the whole thing in my opinion.

I only watch the skills comp anyway...

However anyone who could say that Jason Blake doesn't deserve to be in the All-Star game is going on name recognition alone. Check out his stats. Honestly, more people should earn their way onto the team like he has from being the heart and soul of his team and giving it his all every darn night. But I really don't care enough to actually argue who should/shouldn't have made it.

Post by **Shadd666** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:02 pm

I enjoy the All-Star Games... while some are saying "wow! imagine if player X and player Y were playing with player Z on the same line! It would be awesome to see this!", All-Star Games allow this kind of things to happen, so the basic concept itself is pretty cool, according to me.

But as BruceM said, it's impossible to make everyone happy with the selected players.

By the way, it's a promotionnal event, as an event made mainly for the fans (at least it should be so...), so i think that it's up to the fans to decide who they want to see in the All-Star rosters. But the possibility of multiple votes is a way to kill the event

At least, i won't complain to much on how rosters are chosen, as i can't watch the game itself

Post by **Minstrel** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:36 pm

Personally I like how the NFL does theirs, they have a panel that toward the end of the season looks back on the season and decides who deserves to be honored with going to the Pro Bowl game. The game is then after the season concludes in Hawaii so it's not just an honor it's also a great reward for being the best.

The skills comp is always great to watch in my opinion, but the only time I really enjoy the actual game is when a "great" is going to retire and you know they are playing their last ASG so it's fun to see them playing with for example former Glory Years teammates again and such... but usually the game is pretty much of a no-hitter guys messing around dud. And I still don't know why they even play any defensemen or Goalies. Just put five forwards out there and one of those target practice cardboard cutouts over the goal.

Post by **Shadd666** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:58 pm

The way NFL does his all-star game is pretty good, i agree

But i think it's good to have defensemen and goalies... well, at least, if it is a real game of man hockey, which means hits! It's not a women game! (no hits allowed in women hockey competitions)

Post by **Minstrel** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:08 pm

There are no hits in the All-Star game... except Roenick used to do it but it's a distinct no-hitter affair, just a bunch of guys trading end to end rushes ending up like 11-13 or something.

Post by **Shadd666** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:19 pm

A score of 11-13 doesn't hurt me that much... Afterall, there are a lot of superstars on the ice, so it's logical that many goals are scored.

What annoys me is the way those goals are scored... No great passing plays, no hits to avoid, only coast to coast rushes ending up in 4 on 1 situations...

Impressive when a team succeed to have this kind of situation in NHL, but boring in all-star games when the whole game sounds like this...

Thundercleese · Post by **Thundercleese** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:36 pm

The reason so many schmucks made it onto the lineup is because every team has to have a representative. There's no excuse for Perrault that I can see, especially since he didn't even play for the first quarter of the season...Daymond Langkow deserves that spot by a mile. 47 points in 44 games is impressive for anyone, especially when critics have repeatedly said he's not good enough to play with Jarome. The fact that he's continued production without Iggy means that he's an honorary all-star to me. Speaking of Jarome, his injury is fairly long-term and, even if he were cleared to play by the time the All-Star Game is played, he would almost certainly choose not to. Still, they should've named him to the line-up and then a couple of days later added Zetterberg or Guerin (another two guys that really don't deserve their spots) when he officially said he wouldn't be playing. Just as a gesture to the excellence that is Jarome Iginla.

I'm pretty sure that Rory Fitzpatrick's vote count actually surpassed Lidstrom's. To suggest that his support died off so abruptly when he had earned something like 100,000 votes the week prior is kind of ridiculous. I think the NHL wanted to avoid controversy (as usual), so they fudged the vote counting. We should demand a recount and hold off the All-Star Game until the Supreme Court decides who will be on the roster for us. Meanwhile, I feel bad for Rory after all the personal attacks from such hockey bourgeois as Don Cherry and Wayne Gretzky. The guy didn't ask for this, and he handled himself really well amidst all the publicity. DONE Cherry and WHINE Gretzky should thank him for actually bringing some (albeit passing) interest to the game.

Post by **Minstrel** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:06 pm

Yeah, funny how it became like a snowball rolling down hill and then when it looked like he'd actually make it all of a sudden all voters that got him to that point all of a sudden realized that this was wrong and stopped voting completely and he barely missed out making it in the end

Post by **Shadd666** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:07 pm

I agree that the 1 team = 1 player (or more) is a stupid thing

But i would disagree on Langkow's case... Even if i really like him, as i'm a Flames fan too, i don't think he's dominant enough to deserve an All-Star spot. I think he's better than many think, but maybe not one of the top 4 centers in the western conference, and as so not an All-Star candidate.

flea · Post by **flea** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:12 pm

Well, to me and IMHO an ALL-STAR game should be that: an ALL-STAR game in witch the best PLAYERS of the league are represented....not the TEAMS of the league!!

But ok, knowing that it explains quite something, but it still feels wrong to me as I think that the best players should be there, regardless if all the teams are represented or not.

....and well, not that I have something against Jason Blake (in fact I like how he playes), but I still feel it wrong that guys like Nylander, Afinogenov, Bergeron, Kozlov, Alfredsson, Savard or Vanek have to watch the game just because they arent playing for the Islanders!! And yes, I have watched his stats and the guys I have mentioned are all ahead of him in points (these guys and 39 more, just for the record

)....

Same for Perrault: wouldnt Nagy deserve it more than him???

Oh well, nevermind.....hopefully its gonna be a nice game to watch!!!

crosby87 · Post by **crosby87** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:52 am

The last all star game I watched was 1999, Gretzky's last one - always watch the skills contest though, at least the players try in that!

Post by **Minstrel** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:12 pm

What I can't believe is that this upcoming weekend is the ultimate sports wasteland weekend... it's the first weekend since summer there hasn't been a major baseball and/or football game leaving really only golf, NBA regular season and College basketball to content with. The NFL is on their week off before the Superbowl. So when in their infinite wisdom do the Powers That Be decide to put on the NHL All-Star Game? On a Wednesday.

Nice work...