The NHL All Star game is once again upon us. After missing the last few with the NHL lockout and the Olympics, the Columbus Blue Jackets are set to host the league's best players in a skill show case. Or what's left of them anyway...The latest news is that Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will join teammate Evgeni Malkin on the sidelines with a lower body injury meaning they will both miss this game, and the next Penguins game as per league rule a la Nic Lidstom and Pavel Datsyuk a few years back. Another prominent injury was to Columbus's own goalie and Vezina trophy winner Sergi Bobrovsky who was injured in their final game before the break against Winnipeg. This leaves a lot of people asking who should fill the void.
The All Star Game itself is less intense than most games of pond hockey you'd find in any Canadian outdoor rink, but the idea is a lot of fun and lets face it it's a spectacle for the fans, particularly the young ones, to watch their favorite players show off their tremendous skill and have some fun. The idea of a Fantasy Draft has added an exciting and entertaining element to it, pitting friends, countrymen and teammates against one another. A lot of players enjoy this aspect as they get to commiserate with guys they rarely see and may not know so well. Perhaps that's the whole point. But the question is without many top names, who's left to fill the void?
Personalities like P.K. Subban are not on the list and when the league has an opportunity to market itself like this, that's a tough blow. The NHL has few universally recognizable faces in the US market and this is an opportunity to get people out there and show the fans what these guys can do and just how talented they are. Perhaps there ought to be more onus on the players themselves to get out of their comfort zone and market themselves and the game more but that's not the mentality most of us in Canada grew up with. Just look at the captain of one of the teams, Jonathan Toews. 'Captain Serious' is a team first guy who shuns personal bragging in any interview. The likes of John Tavares and Carey Price fall into this same category so, at least in my opinion, it'd be nice to see them mix it up a bit, sell the game or themselves a little, not to Richard Sherman lengths, but to try and call a little attention to the league while the spot light it on it.
These injuries also give a chance to some lesser know or younger players to step up and the inclusion of young stars like Ottawa's Mike Hoffman and Montreal's Jiri Sekac can intorduce some future stars of the league. Hopefully this can translate into a successful weekend that stands out, at least they jerseys will, or be successful in terms of ratings but I fear there is little to drag the casual or non fan in.
