Jan. 2 marked a big day in the NHL. The NHL announced the captains for their all-star weekend in Nashville on Jan. 30 & 31 and while I agree or at least can understand how three of the captains were voted in, the fourth captain just makes no sense.
This year the NHL announced they would be switching the format for the game to 3 on 3 with teams being comprised of players from each of the four divisions, meaning there will be a Team Atlantic, a Team Metropolitan, a Team Central and a Team Pacific.
Each captain was named based on receiving the highest vote in his or her respective division.
Jaromir Jagr was named captain of Team Atlantic, which makes sense given he is fourth in all time goals and fourth in all time points. He is also leading the Florida Panthers to the top spot in the Atlantic division and is currently leading the team in goals and points.
Jagr is also 43 years old and although he says he would like to play until he is 50, no one is quite sure how many more seasons he can actually play for.
Getting him into one more all star game makes sense, especially considering the season he is having.
Alex Ovechkin will lead Team Metropolitan as their captain into the all-star game. This was another obvious pick.
Ovechkin has been the leagues best goal scorer three years in a row and has five Maurice Richard Trophies as the leagues best scorer in his first ten seasons and has three Hart Trophies as the leagues Most Valuable Player.
He is also leading the Washington Capitals to the best record in the NHL and sits first on his team and fifth in the league in goals. He has scored almost 200 goals more than any player since 2005-2006.
Ovechkin is also one of the more laid-back players at the all-star game and likes to have fun, including last years attempt to be picked last during the draft, part of the old all-star game format.
Putting the leagues best scorer as captain makes sense and one of its best all-star game acts makes sense for the NHL.
Patrick Kane was voted as the captain of Team Central.
The Chicago Blackhawks forward has an extremely decorated career thus far including three Stanley Cups, and a Conne Smythe trophy.
Kane was also the league leader in points last season before a broken collarbone saw him miss 21 games.
Kane has been all over the news this season, first for a criminal investigation for sexual assault, those charges were dropped due to a lack of credible evidence, and secondly for a historic 26 game point streak, the longest in the NHL since 1992. He also leads his team and the league in points and has his Blackhawks sitting in a tie for third in the Western Conference.
Kane is also one of the NHL’s flashiest players who can stick handle in a phone booth.
The open ice during 3 on 3 will suit him perfectly and should be fun to watch. So although he had some serious legal trouble earlier in the season, the charges have been dropped. He’s been arguably the best player in the NHL all season so it makes sense that he would be there.
The fourth and final captain is where things get crazy.
Although I am happy for him, this is of course a huge honour to any hockey player, he just doesn’t belong in a showcase with the leagues best players.
I am referring to Arizona Coyotes forward John Scott.
Scott has played eleven games this season and has 1 point, that’s good enough for 624th in the league and has 25 penalty minutes, which includes one fight, three roughing penalties and a ten minute misconduct penalty to go with it.
Scott averages 6 minutes and 18 seconds of ice time a night, good for eleventh worst in the NHL.
The Coyotes are having a pretty good season, especially for the expectations placed upon them as they currently sit in second place in a very weak Pacific Division but Scott hasn’t contributed much offensively and even defensively he sits at even, with so little ice time it’s hard to have much of an impact on your team.
Scott was named captain of the Pacific Division, a division that includes league superstars from teams like the Kings, Sharks, and Ducks, and includes teams with some very good young players like the Oilers, Flames, and his own team the Coyotes.
While I don’t agree with Scott being named captain, I don’t blame him, but I do blame the NHL.
It’s time the fix this farce of a voting system and this isn’t the first time that it has happened. Usually the team that hosts it gets a bunch of their players into the game, like the Blue Jackets last year and the Ottawa Senators in 2012 who had
four players voted to the all-star game in a season where they won only half of their games.
Last season when Major League Baseball was in a similar position with nearly all of the Kansas City Royals starting lineup leading the American League All-Star voting, the MLB altered the system to make sure that more players that deserve to be there are there.
One of the biggest problems with allowing players like Scott to participate in the game is that deserving players won’t have a spot because it is taken up by players like him.
The NHL all-star game is boring enough with a roster of legitimate all-stars.
So NHL, quit allowing players that have no business being in the game taking up valuable roster spots and fix your seriously flawed voting system.
