Penguins D Sergei Gonchar Named To All-Star Team; C Evgeni Malkin Snubbed!
Kyle Dreibelbies | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 11, 12:51 PM | Hype this story!
In a much deserved recognition, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar was named as on the defensemen to represent the Eastern Conference in Atlanta. The 6’2”, 211 pound offensive blueliner has piled up 7 goals and 27 assists along with a +2 rating. His 34 points rank 4th among NHL defensemen. While playing against opponents’ top lines, he has been much more disciplined this year, only accumulating 40 penalty minutes.
His tenant, Penguins C/LW Evgeni Malkin, was not as fortunate. Despite scoring 48 points in 43 games, sitting at 13th in the scoring race (in the entire NHL), and having more goals than anyone on this team (including Crosby), he will be watching Crosby yet again as the league decided that there were 12 more “deserving” forwards. Malkin has more goals and points than the Flyers’ Mike Richards while also outscoring All-Star forwards Eric Staal, Mats Sundin, Scott Gomez, and hometown hero Marian Hossa, who is sitting comfortably at 39th in the scoring race.
Congratulations to Sarge for this honor. Geno, we hope this inspires you to prove the league wrong for this snub. Pittsburgh fans know you are worthy.
Comments
Ashley Gallant
Jan 11, 12:54 PM
No Geno?? I am truly shocked and appalled at this revelation.
Beav
Jan 11, 01:13 PM
The worst part is that the NHL claims there is no rule about having one member from every team represented but clearly they want to have a reason for a fan of every team to watch the game. Wouldn’t a true fan of hockey rather see the best players in the NHL instead of one mediocre player from a mediocre-bad team?
Kyle Dreibelbies
Jan 11, 01:35 PM
Personally I think it’s ridiculous that 5 of the 12 forwards score less than Malkin. Honestly, what is a better measure of All-Star numbers for a forward than points?
Ben
Jan 11, 01:45 PM
“Wouldn’t a true fan of hockey rather see the best players in the NHL instead of one mediocre player from a mediocre-bad team?”
The truth is, most hockey fans really only root for their chosen team. This is part of the problem for hockey and national television ratings.
Making sure there is a representative from each team on the All-Star teams is a move made to try to appeal to the widest possible audience.
Besides, even the worst teams usually have at least one good player, even if said player is just a promising young rookie, or a veteran past their prime. I like the idea that the All-Star Game can be used to introduce fans from other teams to good players all over the league.
Really, the only problem I have with it is that there isn’t an official rule, like the AHL has. They should just institute it as an official rule, so that everyone is perfectly clear on the policy.
As a bit of an aside: I like hockey as much as most US fans, but this idea that the only “true” hockey fans are the ones that will watch any hockey, anytime? Sorry, that sounds more like a “hardcore” fan, rather than a “true” fan. Or perhaps an “elitist” fan.
I like to watch my hometown teams (I used to live in the San Jose area for a while, so I count the Sharks as well as the Pens as “hometown” teams), and I’ll occasionally watch games for other teams I think might be interesting, but honestly? If the Pens or the Sharks aren’t playing, I’m not likely to tune in. I still consider myself a hockey fan, and, frankly, I get a bit annoyed with the idea that I can’t be considered a “true” hockey fan because of that. Like I’m somehow a false or a fake fan just because I don’t tune in to watch the Red Wings play the Maple Leafs. Sorry, I just don’t have much interest in either of those teams, Original Six matchup or not.
I go to several games per season, watch just about all of the Pens games, catch a few Sharks games when they’re on Vs or NBC, and I buy Penguins merchandise. I’m not sure why I should use up even more of my rather sparse free time to watch teams I don’t have an interest in just to be considered a “true” fan, though.
Ashley Gallant
Jan 11, 02:13 PM
Ben – I think I agree with everything you said. While it may be frustrating to see this player or that player not getting an invite to the All-Star game, it’s also nice to see players from other markets that you may not get the chance to see on a regular basis – if at all.
And for the record, it seems like you are a true fan of the game. To me, a ‘true fan’ is someone who keeps up to date with his/her favourite team, whether that be by watching a number of their games or catching the highlights and recaps online (as is usually the case for me).
A true fan knows what an offside call is all about, and knows that it’s probably not a good idea to cheer when the Flyers score, especially when wearing a Pens jersey at Mellon Arena.
A true fan does not need to memorize every hockey stat known to mankind, but should be able to identify the best players currently on his/her team.
A true hockey fan can usually identify a handful of the greatest players in history. If you have no clue who Lemieux, Gretzky, and Orr are, then it’s a little hard to call yourself a ‘true’ hockey fan in North America (I’ll forgive the Europeans, to some extent).
Have a good one, Ben.
Chris
Jan 11, 02:27 PM
Mike Ribeiro, of the Stars, sits tied with Malkin in the league-wide point race — and he got snubbed in the West, too.
Beav
Jan 11, 02:56 PM
Thanks for taking my statement way out of context. I said a true hockey fan – not people who watch every game for every minute of every day. But a true fan of the game of hockey would rather see the best talent that the league has to offer in a showcase of the league’s talent.
Why have a less dynamic player in the all star game and in the skills competition just for the sake of getting the phoenix/carolina/nashville/tampa etc. market to watch the game? If it’s not a good hockey market, people aren’t going to watch anyway. If they don’t watch the team as a whole, why would they watch one player from the team in an all star game? Better to cater to the actual fans instead of pandering to people who don’t care.
Ben
Jan 11, 04:39 PM
“Thanks for taking my statement way out of context. I said a true hockey fan – not people who watch every game for every minute of every day. But a true fan of the game of hockey would rather see the best talent that the league has to offer in a showcase of the league’s talent.”
It really isn’t all that different, though. Why am I less of a fan because I want to see players from my preferred teams on the the All-Star list? Sure, it’s nice to see all the talent from around the league, but a lot of my motivation for watching is to see how the players from my team play with and against those stars from all over the league.
Is it really all that different than saying that if I were a true fan, I would be watching any nationally broadcast game with Lecavalier, or Ovechkin in them, since those are two of the best talents in the league?
Especially since the All-Star Game has long been thought as a joke anyway – few to none of the players really play at their best. They’re more worried about not getting injured than winning the game, since the game is meaningless. Personally, if I want to watch the best talent playing against each other, I just wait every four years for the Winter Olympics – now that is good hockey worth watching! The All-Star Game? Not so much. There’s a reason they’re making the shootout a judged event, after all. That will be about the only exciting thing that happens in the entire event…
Oh, and one last note: Tampa is hardly a bad hockey market at this point. They’ve been averaging over 100% capacity at their arena every season since the team won the Cup. Including this one, despite how poorly the team is doing. Carolina has seen an increase in their attendance since winning a Cup as well. Doesn’t it make sense to tap into those fairly new, but growing markets by bringing in players from their teams to help increase their awareness of the league in general? I would think so.
DaBich
Jan 12, 09:52 AM
Well, all that said, and you guys all have good points, I STILL think it’s a crime that Geno isn’t included in teh ALl Star game. He’s certainly deserving!
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 12, 12:24 PM
I would agree. He is, by far, one of the top 24 forwards in all of hockey. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be included. With that being said, maybe this will be taken personally by Geno and he’ll go on a tear in the next few games to prove his doubters wrong. He’s been pretty good as it is lately, imagine if he took it to an even higher level!
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