Ladies and Gentlemen, The Deuce:
There have been a lot of articles, posts, etc. lately about the NHL's snub of Mike Green for the All-Star game, including this gem of a quote from Bruce Boudreau: "Shame on them." J.P. of http://japersrink.blogspot.com/ must be shocked at the inclusion of Tomas Kaberle after writing "sorry, Tomas - Mats Sundin is the only worthy Leaf." The problem with that type of (rational) thinking is that it ignores the simple arithmetic involved in selecting the all star team. Let me explain, then, why Mike Green will be watching the game with the rest of us, rather than rushing end to end through the Western All-Stars. it's simple, really. There are so many teams in the league right now that they can only select one skater per team, plus three additional skaters. When you factor in the starting lineup, that's selected by fans, that may leave only one or two additional slots. That's why Malkin and Green are not in the game (especially with Crosby and Gonchar already in for Pittsburg), and why Kovalchuk didn't make it last year! Toronto, Boston, Montreal, and Buffalo had NO forwards or goalies selected, so you KNEW they were getting defensemen on the All-Star team (not that Chara and Markov don't deserve it, but Kaberle? He's got 28 pts and he's a -2 on the season. I guess when you make over 4.2 million a year you can buy a spot!). As long as there are 15 teams per conference, and only 18 skaters per team, snubs like this will continue to happen. Just imagine in a few years when the NHL expands again -- there will only be ONE skater per team on the All-Star Team! So I say, don't worry about it Mikey, rest up, have some fun over the break, and score 25 goals this year. That will put some well-deserved egg on the NHL's face! And just for good measure, pull a little dipsey-do on Kabarle on January 23 (http://capitals.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=TeamSchedule).
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Reason Green Got Screwed
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2 comments:
I get what you're saying. It leads to interesting choices, like Vokoun over Lundqvist and Gomez instead. But if we're going with the mainly one guy per team theory, how does Kimmo Timonen get in after Mike Richards? At the time the rosters were picked, he had 20 pts. and was a -2.
Great question. Although I would go with Timonen over Kaberle, but you're right. Could it be the league trying to promote the once-proud Flyers after last year's debacle? I mean really, I would go with a lot of forwards (Malkin, Sundin, Jokinen) over Richards.
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