by Kristina, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — With the All-Star Weekend Roster being released on January 11 by the NHL and Carey Price being the only Montreal Canadien selected to represent the bleu, blanc, rouge, it is no surprise that one question will be asked and debated repeatedly. Should Carey play?
It is difficult not to forget what happened to Price after he participated in the 2009 All Star Game in Montreal. After starting the season with a sparkling 16-5-5 record through to the All Star break, Price’s play dropped off considerably, winning only seven more games and finishing with a 7-11-5 record for the remainder of the season.
At the time, there were a lot of hypotheses as to why Price deviated from his winning ways following the All Star Game with speculations including a lack of work ethic, desire to be a team player and a loss of focus. Whatever the reason was, Price certainly was not the same after playing in his first All Star game as a sophomore goalie in the NHL.
My analysis is rather simple. He was a kid. At 21 years of age at the time, he had yet to reach the required maturity level of a number one goaltender in this league. But now, at 23, Carey is all grown up and has demonstrated that he can more than handle being the player in the biggest fishbowl in the hockey world.
It is without a doubt that the NHL’s All Star Weekend serves no purpose other than being purely a marketing event to help promote the game of hockey and the NHL. Oh and of course, to give away a truck to the player of the game who can probably afford to buy over 80,000 of those trucks with their yearly salary. Sure the skills competition may be entertaining and the game is usually full of spectacular plays and lots of goals, but at the end of the day the relevance to the players is a far cry from what the NHL makes it out to be.
The NHL even brought on more so-called excitement this year with the Fantasy Draft designed by Brendan Shanahan himself, the VP of Hockey and Business Development for the NHL. “The goal of the All-Star format change was designed to make the game more fun for everyone involved. By giving the players more input on team selection, as well as Skills Competition match-ups, we feel the 2011 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft will inject more excitement and intrigue into all the events surrounding All-Star weekend.”
Just because you wrap it up in shiny paper and stick a fancy bow on it doesn’t make what is underneath any more exciting.
If Sidney Crosby who is arguably “the” face of the NHL withdrew himself from the 2009 All Star Game after obtaining the most votes from fans on the grounds of a nagging knee injury but then played in Pittsburgh’s first game following the break, scoring a goal and notching three assists, then why shouldn’t Carey excuse himself as well?
Or what about the fact that no Detroit Red Wing participated in the 2009 All Star game at all? The organization swallowed having both Lindstrom and Datsyuk suspended for their game against Columbus following All Star weekend for choosing not to participate in the event. Sure, maybe they were legitimately injured and it was worth it for the Red Wings to have their stars be sidelined for a game in addition to taking a rest over the All Star break. But it seems to me that the Red Wings were playing a manageable opponent and opted for their best players to take advantage of any rest they could get.
Ok, so it is not like Carey has to play a full 60 minutes, or try very hard and it would show his respect towards the fans who had him leading the goalie polls until Marc-André Fleury edged him out. But why put yourself in a position where you could get hurt in a game that means absolutely nothing? Montreal fans are the most passionate fans in the world and I am pretty sure that the game of hockey runs through their blood. Nobody needs a reminder from the NHL.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see Carey hold a shiny cup rather than the keys to a shiny new truck.