NHL’s All-Star game is missing… All-Stars

Published 4:00 am Thursday, January 26, 2012

When the National Hockey League hatched the plan for an All-Star game draft, it seemed like a can’t-miss way to generate buzz for the weekend.

Who would you pick first if starting a team from scratch? Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby? Washington’s Alex Ovechkin? Chicago’s Jonathan Toews? Maybe Edmonton rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins? Surely, they’d go 1-2-3 in some order.

The suspense was guessing where the MVPs and Stanley Cup champs would go.

Time to dig deeper on the roster for that No. 1 pick.

The draft has turned into pure fantasy for this weekend’s game in Ottawa. With none of those four players available, the All-Star game has turned into the Missing Stars game, extracting some of the fun out of the showcase weekend. Injuries are the main culprit for the All-Star withdrawals, though Ovechkin pulled out this week because the game fell during his league-issued three-game suspension.

The league banked on Crosby and Ovechkin years ago to lead them into great popularity and higher TV ratings well into this decade. For this season, at least, All-Star weekend goes on without them.

And without them, the league is hoping the lure of the draft is enough to attract some eyeballs to the product on a weekend without the NFL playoffs.

Crosby and Ovechkin are the type of players fans pay to watch. Home or away, regular season or playoffs, they’ve attracted the attention of the casual fans and helped revitalize the NHL after losing the 2004-05 season because of labor issues.

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin and Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk might be the best players in the NHL. Yet, when they’re picked tonight, the casual fan watching at a sports bar or reading the AP recap on a website would be more apt to ask, “Who?” instead of saying, “Wow.”

Red Wings All-Star goalie Jimmy Howard knows who he would select.

“Pav. He’s the best player in the world, that’s why,” he said. “There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be first.”

Datsyuk has 14 goals and 53 points, and he has keyed Detroit’s run to the top of the Western Conference.

Those numbers might not be enough to make him the No. 1 pick — and statistics aren’t the reason.

This is the second straight season the All-Stars are divided in two teams not based on conference or nationality.

Team Alfredsson, led by Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson and his assistant, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, takes on Team Chara, featuring Boston captain Zdeno Chara and his assistant, forward Joffrey Lupul of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But the bigger news is who won’t be picked. Ovechkin created some minor controversy when he decided this week to pass on the All-Star game because he didn’t want to serve as a distraction for playing while serving a suspension.

“My heart is not there. I got suspended, so why (do) I have to go there?” the two-time league MVP said Tuesday. “I love the (All-Star) game. It’s a great event. I love to be there.”

So would his fellow missing stars.

Crosby has missed most of this season because of concussionlike symptoms that have limited him to eight games over the past 12 months. Toews, who has 27 goals and 23 assists in 49 games, is out with a wrist injury. Nugent-Hopkins, the rookie star center for the Oilers, is out with a left shoulder injury.

The best part of draft night is the guilty pleasure that comes with seeing who is picked last and earns the NFL equivalent of the “Mr. Irrelevant” title — and a new car.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re there and at the game,” Sabres forward Jason Pominville said. “But I think you get a car out of it. It gets a lot of attention and stuff.”

He’s right, of course — it doesn’t matter where he’s picked as long as he’s there.

For Crosby and Toews and the rest of the injured stars, they’ll have to wait ’til next year.

Canadiens rout Red Wings

MONTREAL — David Desharnais had two goals and an assist, and the Montreal Canadiens ended Detroit’s seven-game winning streak with a 7-2 victory over the Red Wings on Wednesday night.

Alexei Emelin scored his first NHL goal, and Montreal scored four times in the opening period against Jimmy Howard, who will make his first NHL All-Star game appearance on Sunday in Ottawa.

— The Associated Press