Shame on you Habs fans!!!!

[Powerslave]

Ok I feel I have to say something here. Most Habs fans after we eliminated Boston were outside the Bell Center celebrating the victory in a peaceful manner. It was clearly stated in the news that the people who were rioting and damaging property and cars were there to take advantage of the situation and riot. They were not even Habs fans! and the all-star game is here because it is the 100th anniversary of the team!

And secondly, I am a Habs fan, but I\'ll be the 1st to admit that Komisarek doesnt belong there and probably kovalev neither (or at least not as a starter) but u cant blame the fans when its the nhl who imposes the voting system. i agree the system is stupid, ovechkin not a starter!? thats just ridiculous! but dont blame the fans for doing something they were encouraged to do from the nhl!

[lanky]

Dutch wrote:

Another thing the allstar game needs to get rid off is the fact that there doesn\'t need to be 1 guy from each team there. Some teams just don\'t have allstars (NYI for example) where others have more.

Completely disagree. You don\'t know anything about marketing do you?

First of all, this is a \"soft rule.\" It\'s not a set rule. You won\'t find it written anywhere that this is the case. The NHL just tries to bring one player from each team, so that EVERY city/region has at least one of \"their\" players to watch in the game if that\'s what they want to do.

Obviously, the all-star game is about more than watching your one home-town guy, but I don\'t doubt that there are people out there that want that, and why shouldn\'t the NHL cater to that audience?

Anyways, what does it really hurt having mark streit there? He\'s second in the league in defender points. How can you say that he doesn\'t deserve a trip to the all-star game? The players that were \"picked\" by the NHL are not really my problem... it\'s some of the players that were voted in that are wrong.

Dutch wrote:

so obviously if everyone is too scared to lose a star player in an event that is for the fans.

Yeah, everyone likes watching a player taken off in a stretcher during an event that\'s supposed to be about getting all the stars together and having a good time.

People forget that the all-star game is just as much an honor to the players as it is an event for the fans.

What players would want to risk injury at a game that doesn\'t mean anything? I\'m sorry, but these guys are professional atheletes. They make their living, their money, by playiing hockey. You\'re telling me, that they should be fine with getting injured, and possibly losing future income because of that injury for a game that doesn\'t matter at all... just for the sake of putting on a show for the fans? Sorry, I may be selfish, but if it were me, I wouldn\'t attend an all-star game that i was seleceted to if there were even a decent chance that I might get hurt.

Dutch wrote:

Why play your star 25 min a night the last 10 games of the year if you are scared to get him hurt for the play offs for example.

Well this does happen... usually only in the last week of the season though, since most years the standings are close enough that not playing your stars in the closing games of the season can mean missing the playoffs altogether, or possibly slipping in the rankings and losing home ice advantage.

-----

lainlin2 wrote:

However, there is so many wrong things with the voting system that there\'s no point bitching about the HABS fans. The fault is the NHL with their phony system.

I agree completely with this. I am no happier about komisarek making the team, than i am with toews and kane being the starters in the west. Toews/kane definitely should have made the squad, but starters? Over Thornton and Iginla, Datsyuk and Hossa? Really?

The system is definitely flawed. If I had my way, I\'d make the following changes:

1) make fan votes count for 1/3, coaches/players votes count for 1/3, and media votes (NHL experts/retired players) count for 1/3.

This way you still have the fan voting element, but you\'ll never have a Rory Fitzpatrick or Komisarek making the team by fan voting alone.

2) When it\'s held in a city with a cold winter climate, make the All-Star game an Outdoor game.

Why not? That would give every player another reason to want to go to the game. If you ask me, players staying home in recent years (luongo staying home to be with his wife for instance), is disgusting. It\'s the biggest slap in the face of all. If players don\'t even think the all-star game is worth going to, fans won\'t think enough of it to think it\'s worth watching.

By making it an outdoor game, you make it that much more special to the players. Not only that, but you can hold it in a venue where you can have more fans at the game, and the city hosting it would make that much more money from the event (which goes into the collective bargaining profit sharing and gets distributed to the rest of the league).

[Scribe]

Rusty Pickles wrote:

Now, I know MTL is hosting the all star game this year and celebrating 100 glorious years in hockey; but voting in four Canadiens as starters, two for certain, and arguably three who are not deserving of being in the all star game just STINKS!!!!


Kovalev??? REEALLLY????:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Komisarek - 2 pts 21 games played:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Price - well statistically speaking he is 4th in the Eastern conference so that is at least less deplorable.......

My biggest beef is Komisarek. I know he is a big fan fave in MTL, and one of the game\'s best leaders and shut down defenseman/shot blockers; but this game is a frickin OFFENSIVE EXHIBITION!!!!!!!! Thank you for voting in the most boring defenseman in hockey!!!!!!!!


yes yes, sour grapes Mike Richards

buttttttt

The guys I feel who are getting shafted most in the ordeal would probably be Krejci and Semin. Both have had all star seasons and deserve to be at the game. Given Semin\'s injury history I am not sure how many times he is gonna duplicate this success first half to even be considered. Anywho, Rant over.

Not all Habs fans are homers and not all Habs fans took part in the ballot stuffing.

You should target your rant to those who are responsible for it happening -- and that includes the NHL which allows it to happen and continues to demand that every team have at least one representative at the all-star game.

I don\'t give a rat\'s ass about the all-star game and I wish they would just take the top 12 scorers among forwards, top six scorers among defencemen, the goalie with the most wins and the goalie with the lowest save pct and GAA and put them on the team.

That would stop all the pissing and moaning wouldn\'t it? Or would it?

The all-star game is such a waste of time. I hardly ever watch it and the only part of it that I care about is the skills competition.

If any of the players on my fantasy team get snubbed, I\'m happy because it means they get a well-deserved rest before the stretch run.

[Dobber]

Make it an outdoor game and it would truly give you that shinny hockey feel

[Ogie_Oglethorpe]

lanky wrote:

If you ask me, players staying home in recent years (luongo staying home to be with his wife for instance), is disgusting.

There is nothing disgusting about a man passing up a chance at public accolades to be with a wife who is suffering complications with her pregnancy. That is not disgusting it is noble. It\'s being a good husband, a good father and a real man.

Clearly you have never had any babies. Well, except for the Southeast Division.

[lainlin2]

Rusty Pickles wrote:

Actually, I do shame them. For rioting after winning a first round playoff series. That behavior is REWARDED with an All star game by the NHL (ridiculous).

Absolutely true. You\'re bang on! I clearly remember Gary Bettman\'s press conference on June 2nd last summer stating that he was proud to announce that he was rewarding the city of Montreal and their great fans riotings by awarding them the All-Star game.:huh:

The riots were started by limited and organized groups of thugs that were just waiting for the fans to come out in the streets to start their rioting. I will admit that it\'s a major black-eye to the city of MTL and to MTL fans, but the fact remains that it\'s a very restricted group of ppl that set up police cars on fire and rioted the stores and all. Just like in any other news topic(s), getting the right info and going to the bottom of things is important.

Also, where is your rant towards Pittsburgh fans for voting in (or getting very close to) guys like Whitney or Gonchar that haven\'t played a game. Where is your rant towards Chicago peeps for voting in Kane & Toews ahead of other greater players in the west?

You got the wrong target. Great hockey marketing markets (Pit, Chi and MTL) got the message from the NHL to vote their favorite players in, and they did. NHL marketing campaign did not say: Vote for the BEST players, it said vote for your FAVORITE players.

lanky wrote:

1) make fan votes count for 1/3, coaches/players votes count for 1/3, and media votes (NHL experts/retired players) count for 1/3.

This way you still have the fan voting element, but you\'ll never have a Rory Fitzpatrick or Komisarek making the team by fan voting alone.

2) When it\'s held in a city with a cold winter climate, make the All-Star game an Outdoor game.

Why not? That would give every player another reason to want to go to the game. If you ask me, players staying home in recent years (luongo staying home to be with his wife for instance), is disgusting. It\'s the biggest slap in the face of all. If players don\'t even think the all-star game is worth going to, fans won\'t think enough of it to think it\'s worth watching.

By making it an outdoor game, you make it that much more special to the players. Not only that, but you can hold it in a venue where you can have more fans at the game, and the city hosting it would make that much more money from the event (which goes into the collective bargaining profit sharing and gets distributed to the rest of the league).

GREAT POINTS!

[lanky]

Ogie_Oglethorpe wrote:

There is nothing disgusting about a man passing up a chance at public accolades to be with a wife who is suffering complications with her pregnancy. That is not disgusting it is noble. It\'s being a good husband, a good father and a real man.

Clearly you have never had any babies. Well, except for the Southeast Division.

I am not suggesting that staying home with his wife who\'s having complications is disgusting.

I\'m suggesting that it\'s disgusting when players who have been given tremendous lives by the fans who love watching them don\'t take time out of their schedules to do something great for the fans.

I don\'t blame luongo and any other player that stays home. I\'m just saying, that with the current setup, I can imagine that many players lack the desire to attend the game. I think that\'s disgusting.

reread what I wrote, and read it in the context that i wrote it:
\"If you ask me, players staying home in recent years (luongo staying home to be with his wife for instance), is disgusting. It\'s the biggest slap in the face of all. If players don\'t even think the all-star game is worth going to, fans won\'t think enough of it to think it\'s worth watching.\"

Luongo was just an example... but I was clearly talking about players as a whole. But thanks Ogie, for suggesting that I\'m a misogynistic baby hater.

[Ogie_Oglethorpe]

My reading comprehension is sound. Your comment specifically singles out Luongo\'s decision as disgusting.

Would you feel comfortable making that statement in the presence of Mr. Luongo? Because that should be the litmus test as to whether you truly believe that comment was appropriate.

[ultrawhiteness]

haha, you gotta agree that using Luongo as your example was a poor choice, lanky!

in most cases, i would agree with you and think that players should feel a bit of an obligation to show up for a game, especially if they were voted in by fans.

but not in Luongo\'s case last year.

---

Dutch: define all-star.

The players who score the most goals? Agreed.
The best passers? Agreed.
The best stickhandlers? Agreed.
The best goalies? Agreed.

Now, what about the best hitters, the best shot-blockers, the players who are put out in the toughest defensive situations, the best penalty-killers?

Those guys are just as important (sometimes more!) to their teams as the guy who gets to sit on the powerplay and collect second assists.

So, if those types of players don\'t belong there, what are we left with? An offensive exhibition by the most skilled players in the league? Is this not what we have?

[lanky]

Ogie_Oglethorpe wrote:

My reading comprehension is sound. Your comment specifically singles out Luongo\'s decision as disgusting.

Would you feel comfortable making that statement in the presence of Mr. Luongo? Because that should be the litmus test as to whether you truly believe that comment was appropriate.

ok... firstly I\'d just like to say that i hadn\'t heard the part of the story that he was staying home because his wife had issues with her pregnancy. All I heard was that he was staying home to spend time with his wife. If I knew otherwise, I probably wouldn\'t have used him as an example... he was just the most recent example that came to mind.

Now pay really close attention to what I\'m trying to sayin with the following... I\'m going to try really hard to avoid sounding like a complete dick here because that\'s not my intention:

Why didn\'t he take more time off (other than the all-star game) to be with her during her difficult pregnancy?

He played 73 games last year. If she was having that difficult a time, why didn\'t he stay home more than he did?

To be quite honest, the pregnancy thing sounds like a bit of an excuse so that people wouldn\'t get on him for missing the allstar game... I mean seriously, allstar break is over and he\'s like, \"ok wife. peace out!\" or what?

I follow fantasy hockey news fairly closely, and I don\'t remember one instance last year (other than the all-star break) when luongo took time off for \"personal\" or \"family\" reasons.

I\'m really not trying to sound like a terrible person, but if my wife were having any sort of complications with our child, i\'d take time off of work to take care of her. And I\'m not talking about using my christmas break (the days that my company gives me for free).

[angus]

Luongo is paid to play for the Canucks (his job). He is not paid to play in the all-star game. She wasn\'t on her death bed, but he obviously jumped at the opportunity to be with her and not impact his job with the Canucks.

[lanky]

angus wrote:

Luongo is paid to play for the Canucks (his job). He is not paid to play in the all-star game. She wasn\'t on her death bed, but he obviously jumped at the opportunity to be with her and not impact his job with the Canucks.

Then he\'s an adequate example for what I was trying to say. Players view the allstar game as somewhat of a joke... as a midseason break where they can spend time with their families... if it were even remotely important to players, he would have gone.

I\'d jump at the chance to spend time with my wife too. Or spend time to let my injuries heal. Or go and visit my grandparents. Or take my family on vacation. All of these are great things to do, but like I say before, it makes a mockery of the allstar game, when allstars choose not to attend because they have \"better things to do.\" How is the NHL going to be able to convince viewers to watch or attend when they can\'t even convince their own allstars to attend?

So I re-emphasize my initial point: Make the game an outdoor game when possible, or make other changes so that the game is special to the players who might otherwise skip it.

That\'s all i\'m saying.

P.S. as for him getting paid to do a job for the canucks... quite frankly, he gets paid regardless of whether he plays 73 games or 70 games. I\'m sure that if he told the canucks organization that he would like a week off to spend time with his wife because of her situation, they would have definitely understood.

just my two cents.

[angus]

Yea, I agree with the point you are making there.

I\'d just abandon the NHL all-star game all-together, to be honest. It has become a joke and obviously is a few levels below the other leagues. Much like football, hockey is not a sport that translates well to a non-contact environment. However, the NHL All-Star game lacks the aura and importance of the Pro Bowl, which has as much - if not more - significance in the selections as it does in the game itself.

Basketball shines because it is an individual, skilled sport, and baseball because it is individual and they are playing for something (World Series home field advantage).

The NHL instead needs to hype up the Winter Classic as its annual show.

[Dutch]

Lanky, that\'s the whole problem right there. The NHL is too much about marketing, and not enough about the sport and the competition. It\'s pretty pathetic that a league like the NHL needs to have such a focus on marketing.
Maybe it\'s not the \"greatest game ever played\" after all...



That\'s about all I have left to say about the allstar game.

In regards to Luongo... I think it is ******ed to leave his team (job) to be with his wife. Sure it\'s sad about complications and what not. But hey your paid 7 millions or whatever a year to play 82 games of hockey. So do that. Leave your dick out of her v, or plan your babies better For those saying you can\'t plan babies. Use a goddamn rubber. It\'s quite possible that Luongo cost the canucks the play offs last year. if he were to play that one game more he potentially could have stole a game, and beat the preds for the last play off spot.

Costly mistake if you ask me

[lanky]

Dutch wrote:

Lanky, that\'s the whole problem right there. The NHL is too much about marketing, and not enough about the sport and the competition. It\'s pretty pathetic that a league like the NHL needs to have such a focus on marketing.
Maybe it\'s not the \"greatest game ever played\" after all...

It did need to focus on marketing especially after the lockout to bring the casual fan back to the game, but I agree with you for the most part, that now that a few years have passed, they can worry about other things than the NHL\'s \"image.\"

For what it\'s worth, i think that marketing is an important thing, especially in regards to the winter classics and the stanley cup and other such rare events... but I do agree that the NHL seems to be a bit too focused on it\'s \"image\" and not focused enough on doing what will make the game better.

Dutch wrote:

In regards to Luongo... I think it is ******ed to leave his team (job) to be with his wife. Sure it\'s sad about complications and what not. But hey your paid 7 millions or whatever a year to play 82 games of hockey. So do that.

I don\'t think that taking time off for a wife having pregnancy complications is any different than taking time off for any other personal reason (birth of a child, death in the family, sudden illness in the family, etc.). These are life events that one cannot predict and it\'s completely acceptable to me for a player to miss some time to attend to these matters.

Dutch wrote:

It\'s quite possible that Luongo cost the canucks the play offs last year. if he were to play that one game more he potentially could have stole a game, and beat the preds for the last play off spot.

Costly mistake if you ask me

This is a ridiculous statement. Last I checked, we are talking about hockey, not golf. Hockey is a team sport with 20+ players and multiple coaches reasponsible for each team\'s successes and/or failures.

To solely pin the blame or accolades on any one individual is very single-minded. Be it luongo or anyone else. Luongo is just a part of his team. A very important part, but still just part. If his team were worthy of a playoff spot last year, they should have gotten into the playoffs regardless of whether he played that 1 more game or not.

Other teams got into the playoffs last season without some of their star players leading the way...