Looking Ahead To The 2017 NHL All-Star Game

After a great All-Star Weekend, the only correct thing to do is to nitpick what went wrong and try to make it better next year.

Just kidding.

But I do have a few suggestions for how we should tweak this format for next year's All-Star Game, and they primarily focus on encouraging the players to try. I will acknowledge that the effort was present from start to finish last night, with just one minor exception:

Subban needs a nap pic.twitter.com/ZB2qL5Ebaj

— Feitelberg (@FeitsBarstool) January 31, 2016

Overall, this year seemed to have something that most All-Star games across every sport lack: actual competition.

Here's my theory on why the Pacific Division won the whole thing: they were playing for John Scott. No other team had something quite as significant driving them to win. So their defense was a little tighter, one of their goalies almost tore open his scrotum, and the Burns/Pavelski/Scott trio finished a combined +13 Corsi (yes, I am aware that combined Corsi is not a real stat) in the first game and a combined +12 Corsi in the second game.

So let's get some more effort in here.

Home Team Captain

One of the only problems I had with this year's edition in Nashville was the fact that Shea Weber wasn't the captain of the "home" team. That honor went to Patrick Kane, who was booed loudly all night.

John Scott loved every second of Patrick Kane getting booed (via @EvgeniMaikinEgo): https://t.co/ubtsYJAkCP https://t.co/B70mwCBnMP

— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 31, 2016

If the league is going to adopt a policy where the host city gets to put more players in the game than everyone else, that's totally fine. It creates a rowdier atmosphere, and that's never a bad thing.

But if we're going to do that, let's go all out and make the captain of that team a player from the home team. This year, it probably would have been Shea Weber.

Next year, your options will be Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Jonathan Quick. Maybe someone else could jump into the mix in the next 11 months, but the captain of the first team should be a King.

(Excuse me for a second, I just threw up all over my desk and I need to grab some Clorox wipes.)

Rookie Captain

Watching Dylan Larkin this weekend was an absolute joy. He just celebrated his 19-and-a-half-th birthday, and he was sharing one of the biggest spotlights in the NHL with some of the best players in the world. And #OhByTheWay he also broke the record for fastest skater in NHL history, which may or may not be kind of a big deal.

We need more of this.

So the second fan vote will be for the best rookie - this year, that vote would have included Larkin, Artemi Panarin, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jack Eichel, and Max Domi.

One reason to watch the entire All-Star Weekend every year is to see new faces mix in with the stars that we all know and love (or hate). With a focus on mixing in rookies, the on-ice product should improve as the young guns try to prove themselves (and their teammates follow their lead).

I think we can all agree that more effort in this game is a good thing, and I think a rookie captain is a good way to accomplish that.

The Two Other Captains

I like the idea of the Host City captain and the idea of the Rookie Captain. And then we come to the issue of how to divide the rest of the league into two teams.

I'm stuck on the idea of encouraging as much effort from the players as possible. Having a bunch of players from the home city helps. Having a bunch of rookies helps.

Last night, having Patrice Bergeron on the ice helped. He was almost as sound defensively as he is during games that matter, and it drove the whole tournament to be much more than just the typical All-Star snoozefest. The Metropolitan team responded to him aggressively, his Atlantic team responded accordingly, and the second game seemed to take that intensity as a guide for their matchup.

So here's what I'm thinking: the third and fourth fan votes will be mid-season ballots for the Norris and Selke trophies. It's a little bizarre to focus on defense, but with the talent that will be selected to fill out the teams, offense will obviously not be an issue. I think using the mid-season Hart/Ross/Richard favorites would be too hotly contested anyway.

Obviously, the one change that everyone should be in favor of is narrowing down the player selection ballots from "The Entire NHL" to "Players That Actually Deserve It."

This year, the captains of these teams would have probably been Erik Karlsson (who scored last night) and Bergeron (see above). But if fan contingents decided to push someone like Ryan Kesler (barf) or Sean Couturier (swoon) into the mix, then that's not a bad thing.

The Rest Of The Rosters

This is the easy part - bring back the god damn fantasy draft on Friday night. We can have music mixed in, or Cirque Du Soleil performers, or whatever. Just give us the chance to see our favorite athletes in the most fun event in sports.

Just like this year, the fans will select the captains and the league will fill in the player pool. The Host City Captain selects first, and the draft will snake on until all the teams are completed. I'm going to probably get bored at work and write about what that draft would have looked like this year later today.

And, of course, there should be unlimited beer and shots before and during the broadcast. And if Alex Ovechkin decides to "sit out" or "be injured" again, then we should banish the Capitals from the NHL forever.

The Actual Tournament

There's  not a whole lot has to change, because I thought the actual games were really entertaining. The only difference - and sorry to keep harping on this - is they prize money should go to the winning captain's charity of choice.

We should also slightly modify the rules to accommodate the occasion. Goalies should be able to play the puck from wherever, and interference/hooking should be called tighter than they were last night. I don't need the refs to make ticky-tack calls, but opening up the game a little more makes it more fun to watch, and so does 4-on-3 powerplay action.

Also, Evgeni Malkin should be banned because he's a dirtbag.

MVP Voting

Hey NHL, maybe find someone who is better than whoever was in charge this weekend. I mean, Christ, could they have handled the John Scott thing worse from start to finish? Let's break it down bullets-style:

• Allowed Scott to be on the ballot in the first place
• Didn't remove him or tweak the system when they saw him getting votes
• Shadily forced him to make a statement telling fans not to vote for him
• Still allowed him to win the goddamn vote
• Shadily tried to force him to back out of the game
• Shadily forced his being traded to Montreal and buried in the minors
• "Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?"
• Left him off the fan-vote MVP ballot, then had to eat crow when nobody votes for anyone but him

John Scott,

Thank you.#NHLAllStar https://t.co/RSNu9EH9cJ

— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) February 1, 2016

Fucking delete your whole front office, NHL. But thanks for a really entertaining weekend on TV and (more importantly) on Twitter. See you again next year, you dicks!

Here's A Quick Look At The Top Ten Defensemen In The NHL All-Star Voting

We are one week into voting for the NHL's All-Star Game captains. There's about a month or so left of voting (I don't really know how this process works), so obviously a lot could change between now and The Big Hoedown In Nashville (TM). But here's the current leaderboard for defensemen:

No surprises with the top two. Subban and Karlsson are the best offensive defensemen in the game.

Burns, Weber, Byfuglien, and Doughty are also firmly in the Elite class for d-men.

Klingberg and Ekman-Larsson (both Swedish, fun fact of the day) are young defensemen on the rise, but they've taken decidedly different paths to this point. OEL was the 6th overall pick in 2009, and has largely been tearing it up for crappy Coyotes teams for the last five years. Klingberg was taken 131st overall the year after Ekman-Larsson and is playing just his second season in Dallas. OEL led all defensemen in scoring last season, and Klingberg currently leads the entire Western Conference in points and assists.

I have no idea why Rob Scuderi is in the conversation at all. His career highlight was winning the NCAA Championship while he was at BC (they beat North Dakota, but Scuderi is so fucking old that it was three years before Dave Hakstol even arrived there). Maybe his two Stanley Cups (Pittsburgh in 2009 and Los Angeles in 2012) would be considered highlights, but he's never been an elite-level defenseman and he was definitely not the driving force behind either of those Cup runs. File this one under "¯\_(ツ)_/¯".

And that brings us to the last name on the list. The top eight vote-getters have played (respectively) 394, 424, 744, 741, 712, 625, 92, and 550 games in the NHL (the tenth has played 367). The ninth guy on that list has played 13.

WHAT!

That might be my favorite stat of Ghost's young career. Yes, the powerplay goals and overtime winners are awesome. Yes, he's breathed life into a pretty miserable Flyers season. Yes, he has great chemistry with the team's captain and one of the three best all-around players in the league. But he's top ten in All-Star voting despite playing almost 9 full seasons worth of games fewer than Scuderi/Burns/Weber and between 5-6 full seasons worth fewer than Subban/Karlsson/Doughty.

The kid is electric, and it's great for him to be second in the Metro in votes for defensemen. The four guys behind him right now are Justin Faulk, Kris Letang, Johnny Boychuk, and Ryan McDonagh. I have a sad feeling that some combination of those four will end up representing the division in Nashville, but a large part of me hopes that the league acknowledges that his skill set is tailor-made for the 3-on-3 tournament and gives him a spot.

After all, six rookies made appearances last year (5 forwards, 1 defensemen). If I had to name the 6 most deserving rookies at this point, Panarin/Domi/Larkin are obvious locks. Jack Eichel is also a safe bet. The final two spots would be given to some combination of Oscar Lindberg, Anthony Duclair, Colton Parayko, Sam Bennett, and Gostisbehere.

Let me make the quick case for Ghost in two points: (1) you need to have one rookie on each division's team (2) everyone knows the Rangers' only actual All-Star is Henrik Lundqvist.

Boom. NHL All-Star Ghost.

My NHL All-Star Ballot As Of December 2nd

The NHL All-Star weekend isn't for almost two months, but they've opened the voting on NHL.com and it's time to talk about who should be captaining the four division teams. Fans will vote on the captains, and then the NHL Department of Hockey Ops will fill out the rest of the rosters.

At the quarter pole of the season, we should be able to narrow down the ballots from roughly 1,000 players to a few from each division.

Central

Let's start in Middle America, where the decision should be pretty unanimous. Patrick Kane has been destroying the NHL at a level that makes you think he should get called up to the next league above the NHL. But there isn't a next league up, and he's outperforming the most talented players in the world every night.

He's currently riding a 20 game point streak, and is leading the league with 23 assists and 38 points (he's also second in goals, with 15). His game is also tailor-made for the 3-on-3 format, and he's almost undoubtedly going to be the MVP of the whole thing at the end.

You could make a case for Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin to captain this team, or Kane's teammate Jonathan Toews, but this is really Patrick Kane's spot and I think we all know that.

Pacific

Let's stay in the West, and talk about the Decidedly Less Good Pacific Division. Vancouver's Daniel Sedin and Edmonton's Taylor Hall are the only guys in the divison that are top ten in the league in points. Sedin, Colorado's Matt Duchene, and the Sharks' Joe Pavelski are in the top ten in the league in goals. The only goalie in the top ten for save percentage or goals against average is Colorado's Reto Berra (to his credit, though, San Jose's Martin Jones is tied for the league lead with 3 shutouts).

As far as forwards go, nobody is more fun to watch (3-on-3) in the Pacific than the Flames' Johnny Gaudreau. Like Kane, he's tailor-made for the open ice, and he's been a fan favorite for as long as he's been in the league. Arizona Coyote Max Domi, another Fan Favorite Young Gun, is probably too young to deserve it but will get a bunch of votes.

I don't know if we want a defenseman captaining the team, but if that's where we are looking then it would go to either Los Angeles' Drew Doughty or San Jose's Brent Burns.

Arizona's Shane Doan or San Jose's Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton could be given the nod as a lifetime achievement award, but I think they'd really just prefer the time off.

My vote goes to Gaudreau, but this one is wide open.

Atlantic 

Back to the East, where the Atlantic divison captaincy is a pretty hotly contested vote. The top candidates:

• Montreal's Max Pacioretty, PK Subban, and Carey Price
• Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos
• Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Dylan Larkin
• Buffalo's Jack Eichel
• Florida's Jaromir Jagr
• Ottawa's Erik Karlsson
• Nobody from the Bruins
• Nobody from the Maple Leafs

This is a complete toss up for me. Part of me would love to see Larkin or Eichel thrust into the spotlight, but then I think that Stamkos or somebody from the Habs probably deserves it more. 

If you're going to put a gun to my head, I'm going with Jagr. Partially as one of the aforementioned lifetime achievement awards, but primarily because he is a treasure and we need to cherish him as much as we can before we lose him forever. 

Metropolitan

There is so much star power in the Metro (and we know so much about all of the teams) that we're going to have to set some ground rules for this captain role:

• No rookies or youngsters
• No defensemen or goalies
• Nobody who isn't the best player on their own team
• Nobody that won't be electric in the 3-on-3 setting

By my judgment, that leaves us with five names to choose from. Let's go a little more in-depth.

Claude Giroux, Flyers

Let's lead with the best captain in hockey. He's well-suited for just about any hockey situation and his competitive nature is something the league really wants to inject into this All-Star tournament. Of course he's my pick, but I don't expect the general public to support G. Hence I have included a few other less good choices. 

John Tavares, Islanders

Similar to Giroux, Tavares seems to be good at just about everything. He also has (half of) the New York market backing him. This is a conversation for another time, but comparing G and Johnny as captains and as hockey players would lead to a very interesting commentary on what we value from the traditional Captain/First Line Center role. 

Mats Zuccarello, Rangers

The Speedy Little Ranger will succeed on the open ice, and he should be joining Hank Lundqvist on the All-Star roster, but I'm including him here just so I can note that he's better than everybody else on the Rangers. 

Sidney Crosby, Penguins

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Alex Ovechkin, Capitals

He has to end up getting the letter, right? I mean he's everyone's favorite player to watch - except for maybe Kane recently - and he was a huge hit at last year's All-Star Weekend. He's arguably the most offensively talented player in the division, and his occasional lapses on defenses are what make the 3-on-3 so fun to watch. 

My 2016 NHL All-Star Ballot: 

They're Changing The NHL All-Star Game

..we don't quite know how they're changing yet, but all signs point to including everyone's favorite new thing: 3-on-3.

TSN's Bob McKenzie detailed a bunch of possible changes, the short version being converting a 60-minute scrimmage into a bracket of 20 minute 3-on-3 games between Division All-Star Teams.

The biggest issue, of course, is whether anyone will actually try. Bob mentions a cash prize at the end for the team to split up - he says $1 million, but between 10+ players that's basically nothing.

I'd offer a different alternative: keep the cash prize the same, but have each team playing for a charity they support. There are a handful of big-name players that have their own foundations (and causes they support), and I get the feeling that's more incentive than an extra paycheck. Even if you want to split the pot 60/20/10/10 to make sure everyone gets a piece, charity is always a good thing.

We could also turn the charity side of it into a piece of the weekend's festivities, and have a segment of the game's pre-show documenting the All-Stars visiting their respective charities and helping out (and hopefully lighting a fire under their asses to win the money).

Bob suggests 9 skaters and 2 goalies from each division. I'd bump it up to 12 skaters because, let's be honest, three lines isn't enough to realistically play 20 minutes of breakneck 3-on-3 hockey. Bumping the total number of All-Stars from 44 to 56 isn't the end of the world, and screw you if you think that's the deal-breaker. Let's all agree on a minimum of one All-Star from each NHL team.

My first thought as a Flyers fan was "Hey The Metro Might Actually Be Good Here!" Let's look at who would be competing, and we'll work our way West to East to keep you on your toes (FYI, I'd have the West on one side of the bracket and the East on the other):

Pacific Division

Jonathan Quick (LA), Martin Jones (SJ)
These two would be locks. I hope all the divisions are this easy.

Taylor Hall (EDM),  Johnny Gaudreau (CGY), Joe Pavelski (SJ), Daniel Sedin (VAN), Jeff Carter (LA)
The top five point scorers in the division, and I'd find it hard to believe anyone has a real problem with them.

Tyler Toffoli (LA), Max Domi (ARI), Anthony Duclair (ARI), Sean Monahan (CGY)
All top ten in goals scored, and again I can't see anyone having an issue.

Brent Burns (SJ), Drew Doughty (LA), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (ARI)
Top three defensemen in terms of points scored and time on ice. Boom. Easy.

That's 4 Kings, 3 Sharks, 1 Canuck, 3 Coyotes, 0 Ducks, 2 Flames, and 1 Oiler. Realistically, one of the Getzlaf/Kesler/Perry trio should replace Duclair. Maybe the Ducks will be better before the All-Star break. They've been very unlucky, especially Kesler (who's currently sporting a 95.98 PDO, per War On Ice),

This team doesn't scare me at all because I am from the East Coast and the West Coast doesn't matter.

(*Editor's note: Admittedly, I don't really follow the West. If you want to pick the biggest names instead of who's had the most success this year, you'd take Kopitar/Doughty/Quick from LA, Jones/Burns and one of Marleau/Pavelski/Thornton from San Jose, The Sedin Twins, Domi, Getzlaf/Perry/Fowler from Anaheim, Gaudreau, and you'd make one of the other Edmonton first overall picks wear a McDavid jersey and pretend Brandon Manning didn't kill the actual Connor McDavid.)

Central Division

Pekka Rinne (NSH), Jake Allen (STL)
You can also make pretty solid cases for Minnesota's Devan Dubnyk and Dallas' Kari Lehtonen. Ultimately, Dubnyk falls just short and Lehtonen hasn't played enough of his team's games.

Patrick Kane (CHI), Tyler Seguin (DAL), Jamie Benn (DAL), Blake Wheeler (WPG)
Same as the Pacific, I just listed off the top point scorers. Wowwee. What a lineup.

Vladamir Tarasenko (STL), Zach Parise (MIN), Jonathan Toews (CHI)
All three of these guys are in the top 20 in the division in goals, but let's be honest - they're all All-Stars regardless of their production.

Shea Weber (NSH), Dustin Byfuglien (WPG), Ryan Suter (MIN), Duncan Keith (CHI)
That is an unbelievably good group of defensemen.

That's only 11 guys, but I wanted to make sure I split it up evenly. It's 2 Stars, 2 Predators, 2 Blues, 2 Wild, 3 Blackhawks, 2 Jets, and 0 Avalanche.

So the last spot goes to Nathan MacKinnon or Matt Duchene or Gabriel Landeskog - take your pick but you can only have one. I'm still bitter about that Flyers game.

Atlantic Division

I'm going to rely less on stats here because I actually know some stuff about the teams in the East. Let's go team-by-team.

Canadiens: Max Pacioretty and PK Subban are locks, as is Carey Price (/his backup Mike Condon, who may or may not be Price in disguise). Brendan Gallagher, Thomas Plekanec, David Desharnais, and Andrei Markov could all be considered as well. The Habs are having a killer start to the season.

Senators: Erik Karlsson and Mark Stone have been racking up assists, and Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris are scoring goals. Craig Anderson is firmly in the second tier of Atlantic Divison goalies (behind Price, of course).

Red Wings: Again with the fucking Red Wings. It's hard to argue against Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist, and Dylan Larkin. Tomas Tatar is also right there. They have no standout defensemen and their goalies split time so I'm keeping them both out. Good. Hate the Red Wings.

Panthers: Jaromir Jagr (born in the month when the FCC regulated that TV providers must carry at least 20 channels - twenty! So goddamn old!) leads this team in goals and points. There are a bunch of no-names that are having decent years, but the next men in line after Jagr are Aaron Ekblad and Roberto Luongo (who is also older than dirt).

Lightning: Stamkos. Hedman. Johnson. We have to draw the line somewhere. Ben Bishop is also in the second tier of goalies.

Bruins: David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron have to be locks for this team. Zdeno Chara is the big name on defense, but Torey Krug has arguably been even better than the big man this year. Tuukka Rask... oops. Should not have drafted for my fantasy team.

Sabres: I'm hesitant to put anyone on this All-Star team except Jack Eichel. Maybe Buffalo will put it together next year! (Right, Buffalo fans?)

Maple Leafs: How could any team be worse than the Sabres, you ask? How about a team with a middle-of-the-pack goalie and a ballot of Dion Phaneuf, Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly, and Joffrey Lupul? Woof.

The team: Pacioretty, Ryan, Zetterberg, Nyquist, Jagr, Stamkos, Krejci, Bergeron, Eichel, Subban, Karlsson, Hedman, Price, Reimer. That's 2 Habs, 2 Senators, 2 Wings, 1 Panther, 2 Lightning, 2 Bruins, 1 Sabre, and 1 Maple Leaf.

Metropolitan Division

And now, the moment you've been waiting for - your Metro Divison All-Star Lines!

Forwards
Alex Ovechkin (WSH), John Tavares (NYI), Mats Zuccarello (NYR), Claude Giroux (PHI), Mike Cammalleri (NJD), Evgeni Malkin (PIT), Brandon Saad (CBJ)

Defensemen
Justin Faulk (CAR), Ryan McDonagh (NYR), John Carlson (WSH), Kris Letang (PIT)

Goalies
Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), Braden Holtby (WSH)

That's 3 Rangers, 3 Capitals, 1 Islander, 1 Penguin, 1 Devil, 1 Flyer, 1 Hurricane, and 1 BJ.

(*Editor's note: The Metro is a loaded division. This hypothetical team is leaving off Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Kyle Okposo, Johnny Boychuk, Jake Voracek, Shayne Gostisbehere (kidding?), Keith Yandle, Rick Nash, Derick Brassard, Scott Hartnell, Nick Foligno, Adam Henrique, Eric Staal, Phil Kessel, and Sidney Fucking Crosby. In real life, I'd swap Crosby for Carlson.)

The Bracket

I think the Central has a pretty easy time beating the shit out of the Pacific.

The East side is a little more hairy, and as a Metro fan it'd be really nice if we didn't have to include New Jersey or Columbus. Ultimately I don't really know which way it would end up, but I know I'd love to watch those two squads face off, and I'd love to watch the Central team beat them in the final even more.