Word of the new format to be used in the NHL All-Star Game in January was met with mixed reaction Tuesday by the two Blackhawks who played in last year’s game.
This year only, in a further effort to promote the fact that NHL players will be playing in the Winter Olympics in February, the All-Star Game in Vancouver will feature a team of North American stars against players from the rest of the world.
“That’ll be great,” Hawks defenseman Chris Chelios said. “I think it will be way more competitive.”
But Chelios later echoed winger Tony Amonte’s questioning of the format.
“I didn’t know there were that many Europeans in the All-Star Game last year,” Amonte said. “It’s going to be a lot tougher for guys to make their club. There are a lot of great North American players out there.”
There were 11 Europeans in last year’s All-Star Game that are on the World ballot this year. Twenty-seven players from last year are on the North American ballot.
In prior years, the All-Star Game pitted the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference, with each team represented by at least one player. Last year there were 23 All-Stars per conference.
This year’s format has at least two players from each team on the ballot, and fans again will select the starters. But there is no guarantee of a player from each team being selected.
The Hawks on the North American ballot are Chelios, Amonte and Gary Suter. Alex Zhamnov is on the World ballot.
“I don’t know how fair it is for the guys who deserve to make the team and don’t,” Chelios said. “Some guys who deserve to be there won’t get there just because they have to fill up the European roster.”
If coach Craig Hartsburg had any say in the matter, there wouldn’t be an All-Star Game this season. It’s just one more thing the stars have to deal with in addition to the regular season, a two-week Olympic break and the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“The star players certainly don’t need an extra game and extra travel all the way to Vancouver,” he said. “It’s promoting the league and helping the game of hockey, so I guess you have to do it.”
An example of what the Hawks stars will be up against: They have away games at Carolina and Washington on Jan. 14 and 15; they’ll travel to Vancouver for the Jan. 18 All-Star Game; then they will be home for three games before going on a six-game West Coast trip that winds back to Dallas before they head to the Olympics in Japan.
Happy trails.
Still missing: Defenseman Michal Sykora was a no-show at practice again Tuesday, supposedly because of visa problems in the Czech Republic. But Hartsburg is in no mood to hear excuses.
“He’s missing valuable time,” he said. “He’s going to have a lot of catching up to do.”
Crash course: In the final two-on-one drill of Tuesday’s first practice session, Kevin Miller crashed into goaltender Jeff Hackett, who remained face down on the ice for more than a minute. Hackett left the ice under his own power and was fine for the afternoon practice.
Cutdown: After the rookies’ 8-3 loss at St. Louis on Monday, the Hawks assigned three players to Indianapolis–forwards Sergei Petrov and Ian Kallay and goalie Corey Cooper–and five to their junior teams–forwards Kyle Calder and Jimmy Grondin, defensemen Jeff Paul and Andy Johnson, and goalie Gene-Paul Chiarello.
Hartsburg says the roster will be trimmed to 27 to 30 players by the weekend. After Friday night’s exhibition game against Phoenix at the United Center, the Hawks have road games at Dallas on Saturday, St. Louis on Monday and Phoenix on Tuesday.
Counting Brent Sutter, who won’t be ready for the start of the season, and Sykora, there are 45 players on the roster. They need to be down to 24 by opening night Oct. 1.
