OTTAWA — Imagine you're a National Hockey League general manager with no salary cap restrictions and the ability to put together almost any line combination.

How about Evgeni Malkin with Jarome Iginla and Phil Kessel? Or Pavel Datsyuk with Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa? Or the all-Swedish trio of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Daniel Alfredsson? Or a unit of Jason Spezza, Corey Perry and Steven Stamkos?

Well, welcome to Sunday’s all-star game.

The way Senators stars Alfredsson and Spezza see it, they really can’t go wrong, no matter what happens.

There may be a natural inclination to put Alfredsson, Spezza and fellow Senator Milan Michalek together, but Alfredsson, who will have a strong say in how the Team Alfredsson trios will be organized, says that won’t necessarily be the case. Ask Alfredsson for his preference and he names half the team.

“I love playing with Jason and Milan we have pretty good chemistry, but it’s also fun to play with players you admire (watching),” the Senators captain said. “You watch the way they play and you maybe want to see how you would fit in with them. Maybe you wouldn’t fit in as well as you think, but maybe better than you think.

“I love the way (Claude) Giroux plays. I would like to play with him. I would love to play with the Sedin twins, too, and Stamkos or (John) Tavares or (Scott) Hartnell,” he said with a laugh. “I could name everybody.”

Spezza named many of the same players.

“The Sedins are phenomenal players,” he said. “It’s fun to watch them play together. Claude Giroux is another guy. There are so many guys. Everybody.”

But if there is a fan movement toward reuniting the Senators forwards, Alfredsson and New York Rangers coach John Tortorella — who insists he has no say whatsoever — might have put the Ottawa trio together.

“We play together all the time, so we’ll see what happens,” said Spezza. “We’ll take it to the coach, see what they want to do. But if I’m playing with Alfie and Michalek, we have some chemistry factor, so that’s a good thing.”

Team Chara wasn’t giving anything away.

Considering all the talent on display and the lack of defensive emphasis, it shouldn’t matter much what the line combinations end up being.

There will be goals. And more goals.

Ottawa Citizen