MONTREAL — Hooky, not hockey, has been one of the hot topics in the days leading up to the NHL All-Star Game today at the Bell Centre.
And it still was Saturday afternoon, when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reaffirmed that the league planned to make Red Wings Nick Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk — neither of whom came to Montreal after being selected for the Western Conference roster — sit out at least one game after the break for their no-shows.
“I know there’s a fair amount of attention as to who is not here, which I think is unfair,” Bettman said at a news conference after the league’s board of governors meeting. “I think the players who are here deserve more of the attention. Most of the players consider it an honor and a privilege to be here, and they enjoy themselves.
“But the players are required to attend the All-Star Game if selected. It is not an opportunity to decide that they’d rather do something else. If you’re injured, we expect your injury is serious enough that you’re missing a game on either side of the all-star break in your club’s regular schedule.”
The Red Wings resume their schedule Tuesday against Columbus. Because Lidstrom, who has been battling tendinitis, and Datsyuk, who has a troublesome hip, won’t forfeit any pay for sitting out that game, it’s inaccurate to term the league action a “suspension.”
Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby pulled out of the game to rest an injured knee, but he came to Montreal and participated in the weekend activities and availabilities, so he won’t be forced to sit out a game.
On the surface, the league’s stance is understandable and even admirable. The NBA has a similar rule. Attendance at the winter-league All-Star Games traditionally is high, and neither league has sunk to the point of the Pro Bowl, where the 28th-best strong safety in the NFL can end up in the all-star game as an “injury” replacement.
But the All-Star Game is becoming increasingly important for the NHL as a carnival showcase that involves more than a hockey game. And in this instance, it’s unfortunate the Stanley Cup champions don’t have a player in the All-Star Game.
Yet while the general managers last year were informed of the no-hooky policy, the league should have done a better job of codifying the standards and making sure they’re well-known and understood — including by the players.
“That’s a big part of the problem, frankly,” NHL Players Association executive director Paul Kelly said Saturday. “It almost appears like we’re making up the rules as we go here. It has to be far more clear. I think there has to be notice to the teams, notice to the players, and people need to understand what the ground rules are.”
Kelly said: “We think that the notion that these two guys should have to sit out a game is wrong. We think it’s harsh. We think it’s unnecessary. Pavel Datsyuk, as I look into this further, has a legitimate injury. (He) couldn’t have skated this weekend. And when a guy has a legitimate injury, you shouldn’t penalize for that. . . . Nick Lidstrom had some personal matters going on. Nick Lidstrom has done everything that this game has asked of him. He’s been at this All-Star Game nine or 10 times in a row, and if Nick could be here, he’d be here. . . .We are going to do everything we can to try to make sure they’re on the ice.”
Detroit coach Mike Babcock, who will be on the Western Conference bench as the assistant to San Jose’s Todd McLellan, on Saturday morning said he still wasn’t sure what was going on.
“No one from the league has talked to me,” Babcock said. But he made his position clear. “We’re all about, in Detroit, selling the league,” Babcock said. “I think we do a real good job of that. We have a nice team. Nick Lidstrom has been here nine years in a row. He has some tendinitis in his elbow, had it all year long.”
Babcock pointed out that Datsyuk took only one shift in the third period at Phoenix on Tuesday night.
“We’re in the winning business,” Babcock said. “We try to win our games. So I think that pretty much sums all that up.”
Bettman on Avalanche.
Bettman said the board of governors were briefed on, and discussed, the so-called “troubled” franchises in Nashville and Phoenix. I asked him if he considered the severe slippage in Avalanche home attendance a sign of another potential problem, and whether it’s significant because the Avalanche has some of the highest ticket prices in the league in this economy.
“I don’t worry about the Colorado franchise at all,” Bettman said. “Stan Kroenke is a terrific owner.”
He noted that the Nuggets and Rockies also have had attendance fluctuations.
“The fans are very sophisticated in Denver and they want performance, as happens in most markets,” he added. “Some markets tend to be more performance-sensitive than others, and there is a great history of 400-plus sellouts, as you point out . . . and I think as the team is rebuilt, the fans will be there.”
Spotlight on …
Sharks centers Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton
MONTREAL — The Avalanche’s first game after the all-star break will be against the Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center, meaning the Sharks’ contingent will be heading straight to Denver from Montreal.
That group includes first-year head coach Todd McLellan, his one-two center punch of Marleau and Thornton, and defenseman Dan Boyle, all of whom will be on the West bench today at the All-Star Game; and winger Devin Setoguchi, who played for the Sophomores in the Young Stars Game on Saturday night.
Thornton said McLellan, the former Red Wings’ assistant who took over this season, “has been great since Day One. Everything’s black or white. It’s his way or you’re not going to play. I think that’s been good.”
The Sharks are a stunning 34-6-5 at the break.
“It was a clean slate for everybody, with the new coaching staff,” Marleau said. “Plus, they brought in some really tough defensemen — (Rob) Blake, (Brad) Lukowich, Boyle — and a new way of playing, and everybody is buying into it.”
The real test will be in the playoffs. “We’re trying to get it so it’s second nature come playoff time,” Marleau said.
The Sharks will have a familiar face in their lineup Tuesday, when out-of-retirement winger Claude Lemieux plays his second game since his call-up from the AHL.
“The game he did play for us (against Vancouver) the other night was great,” Marleau said. “He was out there banging bodies and playing hard, and he’s in great shape. He was a good guy to have in the locker room, as well. That was one game. I can’t wait to see what he does in a couple of more. . . .
“It’s interesting to see him come back after all these years. I haven’t been able to sit down with him and see what the reasoning is behind it, but he’s there and he’s playing and he’s helping our club. So we’re OK with it.”
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
