All-Star Game has outlived usefulness

Bruce Dowbiggin, Calgary Herald

CALGARY - Should the NHL All-Star Game have meaning beyond a casual skate on a Sunday afternoon by some of the game's best? Yes, if that meaning is to every idea there is a season - and the season of the All-Star game is over.

Players don't show up, the media mock the spectacle, the voting system looks like it was designed by Robert Mugabe, fans are indifferent to anything but the skills competitions.

If the game were a horse, they'd have shot it by now.

The NHL's mid-winter game began in the 1930s as a pale copy of baseball's established summer classic. Ted Lindsay once fought in an All-Star Game. But it outlived its usefulness decades ago. Because the league needs a corporate schmooze in the middle of the season for its sponsors, clients and other hangers-on, the All-Star format was propped up on a defibrillator.

Could you award home-ice advantage to the conference that wins the game?

What if the seventh seed in the winning conference makes it to the final against a No. 1 seed that had 25 more points during the season?

You want that?

No, the best idea for the NHL's mid-winter revel is the one it stumbled upon several years ago. The outdoor game- played this year at Wrigley Field in Chicago - answers all the needs of the league for a high-profile corporate and TV event. Plus, it has a real hockey game at its core to showcase the sport.

Some might say fans of other teams might be put off by not seeing their guys, but compare the TV ratings between the All-Star Game and the Winter Classic. The numbers don't support the argument.

Others will lament the loss of the skills competition. Then stage it at the start of the season, when everyone is healthy, as a kickoff to the season. Be a leader, NHL, not a follower. As the good book says, a season to every purpose under heaven.

Game has gone corporate

Pat Hickey, Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL - Early in my career, I described a game as "meaningless" because the playoff positions had already been decided. The next day, I received a memo from an editor who wondered why anyone would play a game that was meaningless.

The same thought occurs to me each year when the National Hockey League takes a break from the regular schedule to play the All-Star Game.

This contest has become the ultimate in meaningless games. Instead of being a showcase for everything that's good about hockey, it has become nothing more than a game of no-contact shinny surrounded by a lot of corporate schmoozing with league sponsors.

There are no punishing hits, no checking and no defencemen throwing themselves in front of shots to help the beleaguered goaltenders.

The last time the game had any meaning was in the pre-expansion days when the game was played prior to the start of the season between the Stanley Cup champions and an All-Star team.

These days, the key for the players is to get through this game without getting hurt. Some players don't even want to take that chance and they beg off with the slightest of excuses. That's the case this year for Sidney Crosby, who received a record number of votes from the fans who selected the starting lineups. The no-shows in Montreal also include the league's top defenceman, Nick Lidstrom.

Baseball tried to add to the significance of its All-Star game by awarding the home-field advantage in the World Series to the team from the winning league. It would be a travesty if the NHL followed this lead and gave a team an advantage in the Stanley Cup final based on an exhibition game that is, dare I say it - meaningless?