Here’s Nichols from The 6th Sens and you can follow him on Twitter here.
I have to admit, I’m not really one for the All-Star Game festivities. (Ducks.) Like finding out that Santa Claus wasn’t real, the experience was tarnished for me at a young age when I realized that players don’t take the event very seriously. Case in point, Brad Marsh scoring in the 1993 game. Even in recent years, the skills competition just doesn’t do it for me anymore. I don’t care if Geno is puts a hat and sunglasses on Ovechkin and gives him a squirt of Gatorade. I miss the days that had Al Iafrate’s skullett blowing as he skated into the puck during the hardest shot competitions.
If I had to make a suggestion for the game? Hmmm. Maybe start an Ottawa-based campaign to get Dany Heatley voted into the AS Game? That could be interesting...
Here’s Peter from Silversevensens and you can follow him on Twitter here.
I'm excited to go, really, and I'll find a way to get there. I'm also excited to see a few of the Sens' top players going, because I'm sure that we'll get at least a couple selected to play in the game. That should be nice. My All-Star Weekend tradition has historically been to go to work, but hopefully that doesn't happen this year.
Here’s Stephen from SensTown and you can follow him on Twitter here.
I'm just excited for the energy the city will have and the buzz SBP will have atmosphere wise. Like many events that only come to your city every 15+ years like the Draft for example, they usually fall below your expectations and I imagine the NHL ASG is in the same boat. I will go and have fun because I've never been to an ASG and it's in my own backyard, but I doubt I will be blown away by the experience.
As far as suggestions go, I'd def bring back the rookie/sophomore game and pull the plug on the legends/old timer's game if it's in the works again. Nothing more boring than watching guys who were the best of the best be slow, grey haired and 50lbs overweight playing horrible hockey. I just don't get that appeal on that event. I do have an interest however in watching the young up and coming stars of the league put on a show for everyone and get a bit of shine.
As for ASG traditions, I don't really have any. It's not a must see event for me, although I usually end up catching some of it just because of the time it's on on a Sunday. It's hard to watch a game that is usually so physical be turned into a game on no contact pond hockey, but there's always a few great plays from each game, so I will hopefully have a good time since I plan on going to the game in person.
Here’s Jeremy from Black Aces and you can follow him on Twitter here.
I've been a fan of the All-Star game since I was kid, and that makes sense because the game seems to be solely for kids, sponsors and NHL business partners. The All-Star game gets criticized way, way too much. There are hundreds of other meaningful games during the year. What's wrong with a little exhibition shinny one weekend of the year? If I had to make any suggestions to make it better, I would quickly do away with the player draft that saw Phil Kessel singled out by being picked last. I don't agree with Brendan Shanahan that it's all in good fun. The kid was embarrassed, people were embarrassed for him and his critics had more ammunition. If you want to keep the draft, find a way to make sure no one gets picked last. It's completely unnecessary and it overshadowed the whole weekend in my opinion. The breakaway contest was brutal last year because nobody can do anything exciting with the puck that actually works. And lastly, the Senators need to get a new scoreboard in time for the game, if only because this story has grown so big that it's the elephant in the room. It's bizarre that this hasn't been planned well in advance. The Senators sound like they have no idea when they'll have one. That's a strange way to conduct business.
Here's Tony from SenShot and you can follow him on Twitter here.
I'm excited to see what the Sens organization can come up with to entertain us. I'm not putting too much stock in their abilities as they have disappointed me on a number of occasions these past few seasons, mainly to do with celebrating (of lack thereof) of major Alfie achievements. But I think last year's edition of the All-Star Game was great and hopefully Ottawa can take away from it the best features and improve on them. I really liked the draft last year and the story lines that can go into it, and the mish-mash of players that end up making up each team. I'm also definitely excited for the Fan Expo that will be going on at the new convention center in Ottawa and see what the hockey world has to offer.
My suggestion is to have a host for the event. To be a host, you need to be able to get the crowd excited and be able to joke around with players without going too far. The host would also have to be very knowledgeable about hockey and probably already have a relationship with some of the players. And I know the perfect man for the job - Cabral Richards - aka CABBIE!!! Known from his Score days and Cabbie on the Street pieces, Cabbie now works for TSN doing weekly pieces on a number of things. He also works as a correspondent for the Marilyn Denis Show. If you have every seen any of his pieces, you know his style is awesome and he would be the perfect host for the All-Star festivities.
As far as traditions go, I might start one this year by actually watching the game.
Here’s Dave from SensChirp and you can follow him on Twitter here.
I'm mostly excited about the chance for league's spotlight to shine on the city of Ottawa. Hockey is absolutely huge in the Nation's Capital and that All Star Weekend will be a great chance to put that passion on display for the rest of the league. Health permitting, I think Sens Captain Daniel Alfredsson will play a huge part in the festivities and could have a chance to be a Team Captain, assuming the league follows the same format. The game itself always takes a lot of heat but to have all the biggest stars in the league in our city for that weekend will be pretty special.
Oh ya, and our new scoreboard that had better be in place in time for that weekend!
I think it was great that Kessel was picked last. It made me laugh pretty hard. Too bad he got a free car for it.
I'm hoping that Alfie is at least am assistant captain of a team, if not the Captain. Looking forward to that weekend!
Then you know the crowd would just make a mockery of him in front of all his peers. Finally it would be poetic justice is michalek could break out this year and be our reprentive alongside Alfie. Now that would be fitting!
The draft last year was great fun, it's just too bad it seemed like it had been determined off-camera and then they just added drama during the live tv portion. And there should definitely be a last picked, the guy's on the all-star team for god's sake no need to throw him a pity party on top of the car.
I think the breakaway competition will only get better in years to come as some of these youtube highlights the young kids have been providing are leaps and bounds ahead of what we've been used to.
Alfie, Spezza and hopefully 1 other player (Anderson, Karlsson or Gonchar) will make the team.
I will on the other hand bring the kid to the event. Are all the team represented still? Last time I watched, everyteam had a rep, now, Im not sure. If not all teams are represented, how do you figure we get a Sens player in there if we are bottom 5-8 in the league?
Not all teams are guaranteed to be represented. A lot of it is based on fan support and fan voting through nhl.com. It seems the Canadiens are always represented because of huge fan support and always make appearances. Kessel was there because T.O fans voted him in. It has also been apparent that the home town team is represented quite well. The Canes were well represented when they hosted last year. I think Staal, Skinner and Ward were all voted in. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Voting only determines the starting lineups. (In the case of the draft, I believe it's just 5 players guaranteed to be in the all-star game) Otherwise, players are chosen by the coaches of the teams, who are the coaches of the first place team in each conference by the halfway point in the season. There is an attempt made to have representatives from every team, but it's not guaranteed. Last year, teams without all-stars seemed to have more of a shot to be represented by a young-gun or whatever you want to call them.
If we really want to have a few Sens players such as Alfie, Spezza, Karlsson or any other player for that matter, one of these bloggers (preferrably SensChirp) should put together a campaign for all of his followers to vote at least once a day for only Sens players when All-Star voting begins until it ends. Somehow I have a feeling that Habs or Leafs fans are going to try and vote a bunch of their players in to stick it to us.
As far as anything that I would change. To make the game more competitive, I would revert it back to East vs West and make it so that the winner of the game will have home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup finals, similar to what MLB does.
That's interesting. Now that you mention it, I do remember only the starting line-ups being voting for. I thought that there were also 6 captians (3 for each team that were predetermined). I didn't know about the coaches decisions though. Ya learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info!
I also really likes the idea of introducing a host to the event and love Cabbie for the job. Great suggestion!
"Fans will pick six players (three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie) for the 2011 All-Star Game in balloting... regardless of conference they play in. The remaining 36 All-Stars will be named by NHL Hockey Operations. The players from that group of 42 will vote for team captains."
Come on people, it is what it is, a show for the younger generation (and anyone for that matter) to watch the biggest stars in the NHL in one place. My son lovs it and I can understand why because everyone is having fun. He's not always watching to see the hits, board crashes and concussions. It's just a fun event, if you don't like it, turn off the TV.
Yes but all deserved to be there, not like Fitzpatrick or Kovalev in years passed. What if the Sens dont have an All-Star...
regardless of how serious they take the game, how many chances to you really get to see that many stars at one shot...
if all of the players suddenly took this game seriously and you ended up with a really low scoring game, would you be happy? I wouldn't, I watch the all star game for the incredible goals not the defensive side of the game.
I think Spezza has the talent to be an All-Star and that he will be our team rep, along with the potential of Karlsson and Alfie being included. Alfie because of voting.
It's up to the Sens fans to vote him in... much like in Mtl when they voted in a lot of their players.
Same way we had one last year! On top of the fact that we'd be the home team, which I believe guarantees 1 selection (unwritten rule I think).
Heatley's ego won't let him miss the all-star game. He was not voted in or picked last season.. I'm sure that hurt his pride.
His skill will though haha
Tony at Senshot mentioned having a host for the ASG. My vote is for James Duthie. He is from Ottawa, knows hockey, knows players... witty...I think he would be great..
Just think people, SEPTEMBER tomorrow...
http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/10180/alex-ovechkin-excited-for-caps-additions
hahaha Steve McQueen
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2011/08/18/evander-kane-will-wear-number-nine-for-the-jets/
Found it interesting, just thought I'd share.
I read about that before. Still a very classy move by kane and shows a lot of respect even though Hull's number remains with the Yotes.
NBA is the same, its just a show boat game.
Spezza Karlsson Alfie I expect will make the team.
listening to Maclean you have to kind of wonder if his style of playing tough is going to gel with some players.
I hope the focus is on talent, scoring and being defensive, if we are just skating around trying to hit guys we may need to put a maple leaf on our jersey.
If we are looking to be more of a goon team my hope for the season is going to look more like Tookie's
I don't think that's a great deal for either team. The Islanders lose a guy who was a top 10 pick less than 4 years ago basically to avoid circumventing the cap (there is no 'long-term plan' involving Gonchar or Kuba on any team).
Ottawa gets their second line center for 1 year, but then what? Zibanejad is still going to take his place sooner rather than later. It only makes sense for Murray to go after Bailey if he feels he can flip him at the deadline for more.
Bailey has long term value as a 3rd liner player at worst. I'm sure it would be easy to trade him down the road if necessary. The isles need an offensive Dman now, even Bryan McCabe refused an offer from them!
I was thinking more like Kuba for a 6th round pick.
The NHL/NHLPA really need to do something about this. Sooner rather than later.
Thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of both of these guys. Another sad day for the NHL.
Did it mention who the offer was from? I don't expect an NHL club, AHL maybe?
Does anyone have any news on how he's progressed? With all the talk about the young guys needing a bounch back, this will no doubt play a factor in Regin's return. And he may not even get a chance to try the 2nd line C position.
he didn't fail the medical, he broke his wrist signing the form agreeing to take the medical
I remember watching him go down...it looked pretty bad!
the other concern there is, even if the injury has now healed for the most part
a) he's that much more prone to it moving forward and
b) how much did this affect his overall training over the summer? this is a guy that in my opinion needed to put in as much or more work than anyone else on the team to bolster his strength.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/adrian_dater/08/25/technology.teambonding/
They are down temporarily. Switching over to a new ad provider. Changes on the horizon for SensChirp.
http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=587528&navid=DL|OTT|home
Great article. I think this could be opened up for debate because I for one can see both sides of the coin.
That being said though, days (even without technology) have changed since BM started... players don't see seem to stick with teams as much... always on the move. Sure you have certain key players, but those around come and go - so even without the distraction of technology, imo would still be hard for comraderie...
How did I miss that? Great, thanks a bunch.
Wicked, another contest I won't win!! lol
It really could be a debate for sure. I consider myself old school with things like this. Like I had mentioned, I use a BlackBerry (as unsmart of a smartphone as you can get) but they are distracting, not only to the people who use them, but also the people around the people using them.
Now if teams are on a bus or plane, contacting family, friends, etc... sure, not such a big dea.. But in the locker room? I think that may be too much as this is where they prep for what they get paid for. Do you think GM's or Coachs should have that ability to ban smartphones in locker rooms?
I think, like schools, they should be able to ban them for sure. Hockey is their job, what they are paid for. Some employers don't allow texting while at work, or Facebook etc.
I think the same should be applied here.
I agree 100%
No way it's Gonchar.. he has a NTC and won't go to NYI.
Spezza
Bailey
Zibanejad
Konopka
I agree 100% - I believe Gonchar will bounce back. The Stache will put him on the proper side on the PP. He will have a great year. Also, will provide great leadership on a young team.