It was fantastic to see Pavel Datsyuk drafted first overall in the NHL All-Star draft by Zdeno Chara, as the Bruins captain chose one of the league's most valuable players. In last year's draft, Eric Staal used the 1st pick to select teammate Cam Ward. It felt cheap and against the spirit of competition to draft a teammate first, so good on Chara for selecting a rival player. While I'm not fan of the All-Star game itself, I do find this draft format to be compelling. Last year it was outstanding to see Phil Kessel drafted dead last, and this year the honour went to Logan Couture.
I haven't watched an All-Star game in 10-15 years. The players tend to give a half assed effort and don't play defense. It is fun to watch when you are a kid, but as an adult the appeal plummets considerably. It may be nice to see one of my favourite players drafted 1st, but generally my position is that I'd prefer no Red Wings play in the All-Star game. The worst part about this whole 5.5 day layoff is that there is no regular season hockey. I'm more pissed off about missing NHL action than I am excited about a skills competition and glorified game of pond hockey. Great, Datsyuk went #1, but the game itself means nothing to me.
why wouldn't you want to see any Red Wings in the all-star game?
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify, I don't want to see Red Wing All-Star calibre players playing in the all-star game. If Darren Helm or Justin Abdelkader gets named, fine, go. Even if injury risk is minimal, it is still possible. I'd rather Lidtstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, etc to take the weekend off to recharge their batteries.
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