The NHL All Star Game should at least be interesting this year. The new 3 on 3 format should make for an exciting weekend of hockey, but the changes to the format have made the rosters look different than they otherwise would have. So what could the Western Conference rosters have looked like under the old format?
*DISCLAIMER: The All Star Game doesn’t actually matter so all of this is just an exercise in futility.
Several factors made the roster funky. With each conference broken down by division AND each team needing a representative there were several players squeezed. They needed an extra goalie since both teams need two whereas in the past the entire team only needed three. And finally, John Scott.
The fan vote that got John Scott elected as a captain was always dumb, but what has gotten overlooked is that Scott being in the All Star Game means someone who actually deserves to go isn’t going. In this case, a worthy Arizona Coyote is staying home.
What I’ve attempted to do is fix issues like this. I didn’t spend much time on the goaltenders other than booting out the fourth. But, what I did do is expand the roster to 18 skaters and three goalies. I think I did the game some justice and at least made it more offensive and fun. Before we look at the new roster, here is the one the league came up with:
Anaheim: G John Gibson, F Corey Perry
Arizona: F John Scott
Calgary: D Mark Giordano, F Johnny Gaudreau
Chicago: F Patrick Kane, F Jonathan Toews
Colorado: F Matt Duchene
Dallas: F Jamie Benn, F Tyler Seguin
Edmonton: F Taylor Hall
Los Angeles: D Drew Doughty, G Jonathan Quick
Minnesota: G Devan Dubnyk
Nashville: D Roman Josi, G Pekka Rinne, D Shea Weber
San Jose: D Brent Burns, F Joe Pavelski
St. Louis: F Vladimir Tarasenko
Vancouver: F Daniel Sedin
Winnipeg: D Dustin Byfuglien
And here is mine:
Arizona: D Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Anaheim: G John Gibson
Calgary: F Johnny Gaudreau
Chicago: F Patrick Kane, F Artemi Panarin
Colorado: F Matt Duchene
Dallas: F Jamie Benn, D John Klingberg, F Tyler Seguin
Edmonton: F Taylor Hall
Los Angeles: G Jonathan Quick
Minnesota: G Devan Dubnyk, D Ryan Suter
Nashville: D Roman Josi, D Shea Weber
San Jose: D Brent Burns, F Joe Pavelski
St. Louis: F Alex Steen, F Vladimir Tarasenko
Vancouver: F Daniel Sedin
Winnipeg: F Blake Wheeler
It’s a little bit different.
The subtractions:
Dustin Byfuglien, Drew Doughty, Mark Giordano, Corey Perry, Pekka Rinne, John Scott, Jonathan Toews
The additions:
John Klingberg, Olver Ekman-Larsson, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Suter, Alex Steen, Blake Wheeler
Rinne was the obvious goalie to get the boot with his .906 save percentage. John Scott is obvious. Toews and Perry are having the type of seasons that get you into the game when you play for a team with only one representative and have a history of being elite. Chicago and Anaheim are already represented so there is no real reason to keep either.
Byfuglien, Doughty, and Giordano are no doubt good players, but the roster has to get shuffled with John Scott gone. The Coyotes best player is Ekman-Larsson, and for him to be on the roster one of these three has to go. Byfuglien was a casualty because we needed to fix the biggest Western Conference snub: his teammate Blake Wheeler. The removal of Byfuglien opened up a spot for Suter. The guy does everything and the game is in Nashville, the city in which he made his name. He has to go under the old format.
And one final note about the defensemen: I’m not going to keep the world from enjoying the top point scoring defenseman in the conference. Klingberg is an All Star, and i will fight you if you disagree.
The aforementioned Wheeler was added to the forward group. He’s sixth in the league in points so we’ll keep the discussion moving without debating his inclusion. The other two forwards are Panarin and Steen. Panarin is slick and pretty high on the points list. Steen never gets the credit he deserves so I wanted him to get recognition. Plus there aren’t many guys who have a better claim to a roster spot than he does, so why not?
This roster still isn’t perfect, but I like it better. The restrictions placed on the guys in charge of selecting the rosters made the choices difficult, and John Scott made it even more difficult. I think this roster would be more fun to watch. What say you?