Starting lineups for the All Star Game:

WEST

F - Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit
F - Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
F - Jarome Iginla, Calgary
D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit
D - Dion Phaneuf, Calgary
G - Roberto Luongo, Vancouver


EAST

F - Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
F - Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay
F - Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
D - Andrei Markov, Montreal
D - Zdeno Chara, Boston
G - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey


It's fan voted, so it's pretty predictable. I'm kinda surprised about the high amount of players from Canadian teams, but as about 95% of NHL fans are Canadian, I guess that's to be expected. Full rosters are released tomorrow and Thursday, I believe.

And the five percent of Americans voted for the five American teams?

By the way, I'd say it's 53/47 Canadians. It's just that 95% of the 53% care about the NHL right now. Hopefully the All-Star game can manage more than 400,000 viewers this year.

Well, I was exaggerating, but the players that aren't from Canadian teams are either Canadian themselves (Crosby, Lecavalier, Brodeur), or play for Detroit, which has a lot of fans in Windsor. The only exception is Chara, which I guess is all your fault, jmart.

I had a lot of free time recently.

Yeah that's accurate. I thought the Raptors were making a headway the last couple years, then I checked out some rating numbers... it's just sad. Basketball actually gets its ass handed to it by curling and downhill skiing. It's the same situation hockey has in the states, where bowling and hot dog eating beat up on it.

The rest of the roster for the Western All-Star Team:

G - Manny Legace, St. Louis
G - Chris Osgood, Detroit
G - Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose
(new starter to be named, since Luongo dropped out)
D - Duncan Keith, Chicago
D - Ed Jovanovski, Phoenix
D - Chris Pronger Anaheim
D - Sergei Zubov, Dallas
F - Jason Arnott, Nashville
F - Marian Gaborik, Minnesota
F - Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim
F - Shawn Horcoff, Edmonton
F - Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles
F - Rick Nash, Columbus
F - Henrik Sedin, Vancouver
F - Paul Stastny, Colorado
F - Joe Thornton, San Jose

These are really hindered by the fact that the league wants every team to be represented, but I'm okay with that because it's the only way that an Oiler would get on the team (even though Horcoff is deserving). That said, it's bizarre to see only one Sedin and names like Arnott, Kopitar and Duncan Keith, whoever the fuck that is. They should have chosen Kane or Toews to represent Chicago, but whatever.

Hopefully one other Bruin can make the Eastern squad. Just having one go would be sad. It'd almost be like the Devil Rays or the Royals at the MLB all-star game and that's just wrong.

And it's amazing how much that Thornton guy has tanked since leaving Boston.

Well, there's still a bunch of other teams in the East that need players, but I could see Savard possibly making the team.

Hmm, let's see....

Atlanta - Kovalchuk. Easily
Boston - Chara already.
Buffalo - probably Brian Campbell, who made the team last year.
Carolina - probably Staal
Florida - Jokinen?
Montreal - Markov already.
New Jersey - Brodeur already.
NY Islanders - Guerin? Comrie? DiPietro? Who knows.
NY Rangers - Lundqvist for sure.
Ottawa - Alfredsson already, Heatley and Spezza probably as well.
Philadelphia - could be Biron. or Mike Richards
Pittsburgh - Crosby already.
Tampa Bay - Lecavalier already, St. Louis probably as well.
Toronto - possibly Sundin.
Washington - guess.

And there needs to be two more goalies (Lundqvist is one for sure, not sure about the other), four more defence (should come from Campbell, Gonchar, Kaberle, Redden, Roszival), and nine more forwards (Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Heatley, Spezza, St. Louis, Sundin, Staal, Richards, Jokinen?).

The problem with the all star rosters is that the league wants every team represented but then lets fans vote for the starting lineups, which can throw that off. Not to mention that teams like Florida and the Islanders don't deserve to be represented (I'm sure someone will say the same thing about the Oilers, but whatever).

Come onnnn HUET!

Peace,
Mike

Gotta love the Bruins intensity in the third. Hopefully they can at least tie this and push it to overtime.

Well, so much for that.

Ovechkin today signed a MONSTER 13-year, $124 million deal that will keep him playing for the league's shittiest team until 2021. This is bad for both sides. Why? Because if Ovechkin gets any sort of career-ending injury, the Caps are screwed, and Ovechkin's gonna be underpaid, even at $10 million a year, in about ten years. But oh well, they just wanted the headlines.

LOL, what the fuck are these 10 year+ contracts. Like... what the fuck. Why would you possibly do that.

And the rest of the East roster...

G - Rick DiPietro, New York Islanders
G - Tomas Vokoun, Florida
D - Brian Campbell, Buffalo
D - Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh
D - Tomas Kaberle, Toronto
D - Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia
F - Scott Gomez, New York Rangers
F - Dany Heatley, Ottawa
F - Marian Hossa, Atlanta
F - Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta
F - Alex Ovechkin, Washington
F - Mike Richards, Philadelphia
F - Jason Spezza, Ottawa
F - Eric Staal, Carolina
F - Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay

Well... I was mostly right. They should have swapped Vokoun and Gomez for Jokinen and Lundqvist, that way each team was still represented and they'd have the right number for each position. Glad to see that Heatley and Spezza both made it, and that Sundin did not.

Gomez over Jagr? They have similar points, but come-on... Jagr's better. And he's wayyyy more of a draw if the NHL want a face for people to watch.

Savard was chosen to replace Heatley, who's out six weeks with a separated shoulder, on the Eastern All-Star team. So there you go, jmart.

Personally, I think he's one of the most underrated (if not the most underrated) players right now. Since the lockout, he's got the third most assists, behind only Thornton and Crosby.

Oh, and Cujo signed with the Flames today. Booooo.....

I didn't even know Cujo was still playing.

Just monitoring the Pens/Rangers game. 45 or so shots on goal for New York tonight, with only ONE going past Ty Conklin.

This guys needs to be permanent. Keep him over Fleury any day of the week. His only loss was a shootout so far.

Ah, Conklin. I remember when he lost game one of the finals for us, and never played in Edmonton again. Good memories.

I don't know how the fuck he's an amazing goalie now, he was decidedly mediocre when he played for us. Another Oiler that gets better once he leaves our team.

So in our Fantasy League... I'm destroying.

And Malkin just had ANOTHER hat trick.

Hell, now we can't even finish off Toronto. We should've won tonight, seeing as the last Toronto goal was a shit one, but at least we walked away with a point. Hopefully we can put a little distance between ourselves and the Rangers with the home and home coming up. It'd be nice if we could win at least one of the games (hey, how about both?) seeing as we have two games in hand on them.

What a crazy night...

Edmonton gets dismantled in the third period by Carolina and loses 7-2.
Buffalo snaps their losing streak with style by destroying Atlanta 10-1.
And Pittsburgh loses their game and Crosby indefinitely with a high ankle sprain.

That Crosby injury is gonna be tough for both the Penguins and the league in general, as it looks like he's gonna miss the all-star game (along with a bunch of others). He also probably won't repeat as scoring champion. Oh well.

I don't mind, it'll give Kovalchuk or Lecavelier to end up with at least one in their careers, whereas otherwise they'd just be sitting behind Crosby for the next decade. It's a shame the former is playing on a one man team that nobody watches, he's a freakin beast.

Sid the Kid...

He was tied for first place in total points, and the Pens were briefly ranked at 5th in the entire league. What a horrible time for an injury.