The turn of the new year always finds me desperately clinging to the last moments of waning holiday spirit before turning my attentions to the upcoming school days. To that end, this blog will be dedicated to my number one recreational pursuit: hockey.
No, I don’t play. I watch, cheer, follow, and adore the sport. Especially yesterday, when the National Hockey League staged its annual outdoor Winter Classic. The game has become a nationally televised New Year’s Day staple after just three years, and this year’s game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh is accompanied by a riveting “24/7” miniseries on HBO. Towards the end of the month, the league will even attempt to build fan interest in a spectacle that almost every sports follower ignores: the All-Star Game.
I absolutely love the NHL’s innovative approach. The strategy, in sum, is to shamelessly celebrate the pure geekdom of fantasy sports. For the 2011 NHL All-Star Game, fan voting will elect one All-Star per position (Three forwards, two defensemen, and a goaltender). The league will name the other All-Stars until two teams can be fielded. Those teams, however, will be drafted by two captains selected beforehand by the All Stars themselves. Thus, the intrigue of who becomes an All Star compounds with the debate over captain nomination and drafting strategy, which fantasy geeks like myself regularly analyze and discuss. With fan balloting about to conclude, here are my thoughts on all these heated debates that should keep us hockey nuts busy over the next month:
My All-Star Ballot – the best at each position:
Forwards: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh), Daniel Sedin (Vancouver), Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay)
Narrow honorable mentions go to Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay), Patrick Sharp (Chicago), and Corey Perry (Anaheim)
Defensemen: Kris Letang (Pittsburgh) and Dustin Byufglien (Atlanta)
The travesty here is that Letang was left off the NHL’s online ballot, and Byufglien is currently ninth – NINTH!!! in fan balloting.
Goaltender: Tim Thomas (Boston)
I wouldn’t mind at all if Jonas Hiller (Anaheim) or Carey Price (Montreal) nabbed this spot.
Epic FAIL! for democracy
Fans from the last two cities to earn the Stanley Cup championship should be tossed into Lake Michigan and the Ohio River. Pittsburgh fans are to be commended for promoting a legitimate snub like Letang (whom the league left off the ballot entirely), but they’ve also given forward Evgeni Malkin and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury buckets of votes that neither deserve. Chicago fans should be even more ashamed, since Patrick Sharp has been far and away the best Blackhawk – more than worthy of a top-three forward spot – yet he, too, was omitted from the All-Star ballot. Inexplicably, the Windy City has instead stuffed the ballot box for captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith.
O Captain, My Captain
Count on the league giving an All-Star nod to Washington’s Alex Ovechkin. The HBO series has really played up the rivalry between Ovechkin and Crosby, the league’s biggest stars over the last five seasons. Thus, the obvious option would be to pit them against each other, yet again, as All-Star captains. I’m hoping for a different approach, such as:
* Crosby vs. Stamkos – let this year’s leading goal-scorers duke it out.
* Ovechkin vs. Eric Staal (Carolina) – since Carolina is hosting the All-Star game this year, pit their golden boy Staal <>nd overall in the 2003 entry draft > against Ovechkin, who was drafted one year later, in Raleigh, with the 1st overall pick.
* Cam Ward (Carolina) vs Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit) – Winners the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player in 2006
* Staal vs Ward – why not let the two hometown heroes duke it out? Or set up a good old-fashioned Southern rivalry with Byufglien of Atlanta against one of the homeboys.
* Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit, defense, 40 years old) vs. Brian Rafalski (Detroit, defense, 37 years old) – this would satisfy the deference to long-time veterans that will probably prevail among the players. Lidstrom vs. Thomas would also work, or put any of these three going up against a young forward. Get a nice generation rivalry going!
(NOTE: This is the only scenario in which I will possibly accept Martin Brodeur being named to the All-Star game. The 38-year-old goalie from New Jersey is having a horrendous year, but giving him and Lidstrom the chance to be the first-ever Fantasy Draft captains is a sentiment I will begrudgingly accept.)
Draft strategies – That Friday night spectacle could get reeeeally interesting if the captains have fun with their competitive instincts and get creative. Some tips:
* Separate the Sedin twins! Henrik and Daniel have played together since they were tykes back in Sweden. The scouting report has always been that they were better together than apart. Time to test that theory, eh?
* Blow up the Red Wings! They should lead all teams with four All Stars , and this would be the first time they played against each other since 2002, the last time the NHL featured a North America vs. The World format.
* California vs. Canada The Golden State has visited the Stanley Cup finals twice, and both times, it faced a team from the Great White North. See if one captain hoards All-Stars representing Californian (I project seven) versus Canadian teams (eight).
Scouting Report: The Rookie Draft
After the rosters for Sunday’s All-Star Game are set, each captain will also draft six rookies to compete in Saturday’s Super Skills competition. The contests will emphasize shooting and passing accuracy, as well as one-on-one breakaways.
EARLY PICKS: forwards Tyler Ennis (Buffalo), Logan Couture (San Jose), and Jordan Eberle (Edmonton); defensemen Cam Fowler (Anaheim) and Kevin Shattenkirk (Colorado). All five have performed well in one-on-one shootouts – the tie-breaker used at the end of games. Shattenkirk ranks second among all rookies in shooting percentage.
LATER PICKS: forwards Derek Stepan (NY Rangers), Bryan Bickell (Chicago), and Jeff Skinner (Carolina); defenseman John Carlson (Washington). All have collected many assists thus far. These could be the better passers of the first-year crop.
GOALIE PICKS: Philadelphia’s Sergei Bobrovsky is the only rookie who is getting regular starts, but he should be drafter after Nashville’s Anders Lindback. Bobrovsky is the only one of the two with shootout experience, and he’s been pretty bad.
LAST PICK: Travis Hamonic, a defenseman from the NY Islanders. Sorry, but that’s very appropriate for the Islanders.
Below, I’ve summarized all my 2011 NHL All-Star picks. Let the debates begin!
My Fan Ballot:
Forwards – Crosby (Pittsburgh), D. Sedin (Vancouver), St. Louis (Tampa Bay)
Defense – Letang (Pittsburgh), Byufglien (Atlanta)
Goalie – Thomas (Boston)
The Other Stars:
Forwards
Stamkos (TB), H. Sedin & Ryan Kesler (Van), Sharp (Chi), Perry (Ana), Pavel Datsyuk & Zetterberg (Det), Brad Richards & Loui Eriksson (Dallas), Ovechkin & Alexander Semin (Washington), Milan Lucic (Boston), Rick Nash (Columbus), Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles), Martin Havlat (Minnesota), Ryane Clowe (San Jose), Jarome Iginla (Calgary), Claude Giroux (Philadelphia), Staal (Car), David Backes (St. Louis), Patrick Elias (New Jersey)
Defense
Ryan Whitney (Edmonton), John-Michael Liles (Colorado), Tobias Enstrom (Atlanta), Jack Johnson (LA), Lubomir Visnovsky (Ana), Lidstrom & Rafalski (Det), Keith Yandle (Phoenix), Erik Karlsson (Ottawa), Tomas Kaberle (Toronto)
Goalies
Hiller (Ana), Price (Mon), Ward (Car), Jonathan Quick (LA), Tomas Vokoun (Florida)
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