What does NHL want All-Star Game to represent?
For all the hand-wringing about what would happen if marginal Vancouver defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick ended up at the All-Star Game in Dallas, it couldn’t have possibly been as big a puzzler as the curious mix of players selected by the league to fill out the two All-Star rosters. In general, the All-Star Game is a dog’s breakfast of schmoozing and glad-handing and waving of the NHL flag, with a couple of on-ice events thrown in around parties and public appearances. Fair enough. It is what it is. But the league has to decide what it wants the All-Star Game to represent. Is it a celebration of the game’s stars regardless of how they’re playing at this moment, or is it a reward to players who reflect the best the game has to offer? Sadly, the league seems to have managed the difficult distinction of not quite getting it right on either count. How else to explain the presence of Phoenix Coyotes center Yanic Perreault on the Western Conference squad? We think the world of Perreault. He is a
