My Idea: The NHL Young Guns All Star Game

Despite the fact that we are not all that far into this NHL season, today's post Down Goes Brown (link here) focused on the mid-season All Star game. Specifically, he provided ten suggestions for revamping the ASG (and the weekend as a whole) to make it more interesting.

His final suggestion, and to my eyes the one he prefers the most, is a callback to everyone's favorite team from last Fall's World Cup of Hockey:

The idea: A “Young Guns” all-star game 

You remember the Young Guns, a.k.a. Team North America from last year’s World Cup? Bunch of 23-and-under kids, stole the show by being ridiculously fun, and ended up as basically the only thing anyone remembers from that tournament? Let’s turn the all-star weekend over to them. 

Pros: Connor McDavid vs. Auston Matthews. Jack Eichel on a line with Nolan Patrick. And unlike the World Cup, you’d get all the young European stars, too, so Patrik Laine, David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl and friends get to join in the fun. 

The World Cup young guns were all skill and speed, exactly the sort of game that the NHL should want to showcase at a marquee event. You wouldn’t get the same effort level in an all-star game, of course, but these guys are young enough that they’d probably want to put on a show. And since most of them are still on entry-level contracts, the cash bonus the NHL offers to the winning team might actually matter to them. 

Cons: I’m not completely sure there is one. Sure, you’d lose out on the Crosbys and Ovechkins, but those guys don’t want to play in these things, anyway. The veterans have earned their weekend off. Let the kids have the spotlight, and spend a few days really selling the future of the sport. 

Bottom line: Make it happen, NHL.

I think there is a lot to like with the Young Guns All Star Game. You could still include the older (or "in their prime") stars as part of the Skills Competition, as coach(es) for each youth team, or as announcers or interviewers. We are also probably going to have to dip into that pool to get some goalies. But the actual game seems like it'd benefit from this format in two ways:

• Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass, but I think the notion is kids have fresher legs and more energy than grizzled vets. And a great performance on a national stage does a lot more for a player like Nolan Patrick than it would for last year's ASG MVP Wayne Simmonds. One key issue with any league's All Star Game is a lack of effort, and the youth movement should help with that.
• Similar to the national exposure point in that last bullet, a piece of a $1 million prize pool means more to a kid making (at most) $925,000 in salary than it does to a guy who has been making $5 million or $7 million or $10.5 million for almost a decade. 

One issue that would arise here, if we're banking on the fact that a full-year's-salary-sized performance bonus would be a key reason for effort, is 22- and 23-year-old players who have signed real NHL contracts. Think Shayne Gostisbehere's new $4.5 million deal or the $12.5 million behemoth that Connor McDavid is going to start next season. Those guys have shined, and are getting paid for it. 

I want my Young Gun All Star Game to be guys who are hungry for the Discover Card Grand Prize (TM). I want these games to mean a new car for the player and his mom, and a Caribbean vacation for him and his friend and/or girlfriend. I want every goal allowed by a lazy backcheck to be met with a furious wrath on the bench. And so, I think we have to limit these rosters to guys who are playing on entry-level contracts during the season in which the ASG takes place. 

Without further ado (you knew I was going here, right?) let's see who'd make up each division's roster. Oh and by the way we're keeping the 3-on-3 format because it fuckin' ROCKS. That means we need 6-7 forwards, 3-4 defensemen, and a goalie per team - plus an All Star Coach (and Assistant Coach), which I will determine based on a hypothetical NHL.com fan vote. 

Metropolitan Division

Forwards:

Sonny Milano, Columbus Blue Jackets

Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils

Matthew Barzal, New York Islanders

Pavel Buchnevich, New York Rangers

Nolan Patrick, Philadelphia Flyers

Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jakub Vrana, Washington Capitals

Defensemen:

Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets

Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils

Ivan Provorov, Philadelphia Flyers

Noah Hanifin, Carolina Hurricanes

Honorable Mention:

Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes

Brett Pesce, Carolina Hurricanes

Jacob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes

Oliver Bjorkstrand, Columbus Blue Jackets

Miles Wood, New Jersey Devils

Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils

Joshua Ho-Sang, New York Islanders

Jimmy Vesey, New York Rangers

Brady Skjei, New York Rangers

Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers

Some notes:

• That Carolina blue line is crazy. You could make the case for any one of Hanifin/Pesce/Slavin, but I went with Hanifin because he leads that trio in points, and because I think he's going to end up being the best of the bunch. 
• On the other end up the spectrum, Washington's only two potential selections were Vrana and Madison Bowey. Unrelated but kind of related, Filip Forsberg would not qualify for this tournament because he recently earned a contract worth $6 million per year. 
• The Penguins, like the Capitals, do not have a ton of options for this ELC tournament. But Guentzel is a slam-dunk selection. 
• For the Blue Jackets (Milano-Bjorkstrand), Islanders (Barzal-Ho-Sang), and Rangers (Buchnevich-Vesey), I had to make a choice between two deserving candidates. I tried to roll a bunch of quick research into each pick, and I focused primarily on scoring and usage. 
• Coach: Wayne Simmonds, as voted by NHL fans
• Assistant Coach: Alex Ovechkin (substitute for Sidney Crosby, who was voted second behind Simmonds by fans but declined the position due to a lower body injury (full diaper))

Atlantic Division

Forwards

Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres

Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings

Jared McCann, Florida Panthers

Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning

Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs

William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs

Defensemen

Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

Victor Mete, Montreal Canadiens

Colin White, Ottawa Senators

Mikhail Sergachev, Tampa Bay Lightning

Honorable Mention

Anders Bjork, Boston Bruins

Brandon Carlo, Boston Bruins

Sam Reinhart, Buffalo Sabres

Justin Bailey, Buffalo Sabres

Anthony Mantha, Detroit Red Wings

Logan Brown, Ottawa Senators

Artturi Lehkonen, Montreal Canadiens

Some notes:

• For Ottawa, your options are White (who is currently injured and was just able to start practicing without a non-contact jersey this week) or Brown (who has one assist in three games this year). Not great!
• You can't possibly make this Atlantic roster without including all three Leafs boys. You just can't. 

Western Conference coming tomorrow.