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All Star Game Suspensions
by PuckStopsHere on 01/24/09 at 12:14 AM ET
Comments (6)
Gary Bettman has put a black eye onto the All Star Weekend. Friday afternoon, he announced that players chosen to the All Star Game who are chosen to play in the All Star Game and cite an injury as a reason to not play in the All Star Game must either attend the non-game schmooze fest part of the weekend or miss at least one game either before or after the All Star break. Effectively, this suspends players for the first game after the break who decided not to attend the event.
There are three players who fit into this situation. Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins managed to get to Montreal for All Star Weekend on extremely short notice. Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings were unable (or unwilling) to get back on time. This means that these two players will be suspended for Detroit’s first game after the all star break - which is against Columbus.
There are several reasons why these suspensions are unfair. The first is that they apply only to players chosen to the All Star roster and not the Young Stars roster. Steve Mason of Columbus and Nicklas Backstrom of Washington are missing the Young Stars Game without an injury serious enough to keep them out of an NHL game and they face no repercussions. Clearly, this shows that the suspensions are driven because of the NHL’s marketing aims. Bettman wants the All Stars in Montreal to schmooze with the NHL’s corporate sponsors, but the Young Stars do not matter nearly as much. They are not the big draw. The fact that this is transparently a marketing driven move and not one related to hockey is a problem.
Second, there is significant precedent for players opting out of the All Star Game. It has been happening for years. Some fans and the league complained, but nothing had been done to punish those players. In fact, it is somewhat unfair that a player who is such a good player that he has to play an extra game, while the rest of the league gets a vacation. The fact that a player can be punished for a series of events that began because he is a star and is forced to submit further services to the league for his reward, seems unfair. Were Bettman to decide to suspend players starting this year, he could have announced it much earlier than Friday afternoon. By the time the announcement was made, it was too late for some players to change plans and probably quite costly and inconvenient for Sidney Crosby who did.
This is all problematic because it is an example of Gary Bettman trying to expand the power of the commissioner. There is no precedent for suspending players who miss a league event. He has just created that power. Similarly, there was no precedent for suspending a player for a pre-game comment but Bettman created that power earlier this season. How much more power should Bettman grab? Given his track record is it good for hockey if he increases his power?
The final reason is that players may in fact have nagging injuries that they are resting over the All Star break. A player could force this case as a safety issue. He is injured and being forced to perform (in an extra event that most of his teammates get off) by his employer instead of rehabbing the injury. Such a legal challenge would portray the NHL in a poor light if it got mainstream media coverage, regardless of the circumstances behind it.
Detroit Red Wings fans have every right to be upset. There team is singled out for suspensions that are driven by the NHL’s marketing wing. The expansionary powers of the commissioner are a problem. This disagreement could lead to the NHLPA pressuring the NHL to kill the All Star Game entirely. Worst of all, it makes the NHL look bad to suspend some of its best players for something that is this petty. However, one game without Lidstrom and Datsyuk is not the end of the world. It is quite reasonable to imagine Detroit winning this game, despite the absence of two stars.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: All+Star+Game, Gary+Bettman, Nicklas+Lidstrom, Pavel+Datsyuk, Sidney+Crosby,
Comments
Get your facts straight. It’s widely known that Bettman made it clear LAST FEBRUARY that missing the all star game should mean that you are too injured to participate, which means you shouldn’t be playing regular games. It’s the ALL STAR GAME you’re not going to get HIT or Run!
Being an allstar means you’re an ambassador of the game and you should clearly be making more money than the average player. With more money comes more responsibility.
The fans voted you in cause they pay your salary and they want to see you there. If you’re health enough to play in a regular season game, then you should cancel your vacation and get your priorities straight.
Also, last I checked, it’s the ALL STAR game weekend, not the young star weekend.
The young stars are asked and it’s a mutual agreement that they’re there. If they can’t make it, they don’t agree, and the league chooses someone else. Completely different.
Posted by Shane from Burlington, Ont on 01/24/09 at 01:52 AM ET
It is not widely known that Bettman did anything last February regarding All Star Games. Do you have a link? However, if we take you at your word, all he said was he thinks you should be injured if you miss the All Star Game. That is a point of opinion and nothing more. There is no talk of suspensions until the last minute this year. These suspensions are an expansion of power from the commissioner and that alone is problematic. Should he be expanding his power? Why?
You are incorrect. The fans did NOT select Lidstrom or Datsyuk. They were not selected to the starting line-up. The league selected them.
This distinction you are making between the young stars and the all stars is rather dubious. The only fact you cite is the name given to the weekend. In past seasons, the league asks a player to attend the All Star Game and if they can’t make it somebody else is selected. There is an attempt to change things at the last minute this year and that is wrong. The way the change is being made is wrong and the fact that a change is being made at all is a questionable decision.
I understand that you want to see the All Stars in the game, but it is a meaningless exhibition. It is very reasonable to be able to play hurt in a regular season game, but miss an exhibition game to rehab that injury. The fact that the league and some fans demand otherwise takes players for granted. Like any other job, you have no responsibility to “give back to the community”. It is a nice thing if you do it, but nobody has the right to force you to do it on their schedule.
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 01/24/09 at 02:14 AM ET
“The fans voted you in cause they pay your salary and they want to see you there.”
So what does that have to do with Datsyuk and Lidstrom? Neither one of them was voted into the game as a starter.
Sorry, try again.
Posted by Garth on 01/24/09 at 12:14 PM ET
And secondly, why is the young stars game a “mutual agreement” while the all star game is, apparently, contractually obligated (Even though it isn’t, because if it WAS, there would be NO controversy)?
What kind of BS, no-logic double standard is that? And why is it acceptable?
And why is the double standard of CRosby not being suspended because he’s schmoozing in Montreal an acceptable one? The point of not playing in the game because of an injury is that you want to REST for the next game that has some kind of meaning. How much rest can one get by attending all the events surrounding the game?
Why are these double standards acceptable?
Is it because Crosby, Mason and Backstrom aren’t Red Wings? People can rail against the whiny Red Wing fans all they want, but it CAN’T be ignored that there are five players not playing because of injury, yet only the two Red Wings are being punished for it.
Posted by Garth on 01/24/09 at 12:20 PM ET
The point is that even if the rule is in place, it’s an asinine rule.
People who paid hundreds of dollars to go see the Red Wings in Columbus on Tuesday are now getting completely jailsexed by the league. They will miss out on seeing two of the world’s best players, all because of a shoddy rule.
What’s worse—making the fans at the all-star game miss out on these two players, when A) there are dozens of other stars at the weekend event and B) most NHL fans outside of Detroit know little and/or care little about these two players…
OR
Making fans of these two players that only get a few opportunities per season to see them play miss out on seeing them, after they spent hundreds of dollars for tickets and/or travel arrangements? There are LOTS of Wings fans on Columbus—both Michigan transplants, as well as hockey fans that followed the Wings before Ohio had a team. And, lots of fans make the trek from Michigan to Columbus to see their team play.
This whole situation is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. If there was ever a word that describes the NHL perfectly—it is asinine.
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 01/26/09 at 10:13 AM ET
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Excellent post- right on the money. Bettman is quite possibly the worst thing ever to happen to the NHL.
Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 01/24/09 at 12:43 AM ET