Well as NHL all star weekend wraps up I am left thinking that for the most part I found it very enjoyable.  The skills competition on Saturday night was very entertaining.  It was kind of cool to see players being themselves and entertaining while doing so.  This has always been the most entertaining part of the skills competition for me but in my opinion ever since Bret Hull and Jeremy Roenick ceased being all star regulars, there have not been too many players with too much personality.  Last night I felt every player in the trick shot competition (especially Ovechkin obviously) showed a lot of character and was very entertaining.  Boston’s Marc Savard was very good with the microphone and although it angered the home fans I got quite a kick out of Tim Thomas claiming Savard  had him “fooled” during the breakaway competition when Thomas clearly handed him a goal (I thought anyway). 

As all of these talented NHL greats entertained us on Saturday and Sunday I hope I wasn’t the only person thinking “Sidney who?”  As I’ve said before, he is a deserving all star but not nearly the best player in the league.  He is over rated, over marketed and I did not miss him one bit.  Plus, how awkward would it have been for him to be flailing on the ice whining and looking for a weak penalty during the skills competition.

Sunday’s all star game got off to a rough start with me.  I was disappointed with the political tie in that for some reason was allowed during the US national anthem.  Our national anthem is about our country not our current president, or any president for that matter.  If you want to dress the part Mr. Dreadlocks, next time wear an American flag t-shirt.

As for the game, I found it entertaining.  There were many great goals and pretty plays but I had a realization while watching.  Earlier in the season I wrote a column about rule changes to increase scoring and how I was against it.  Well I had a bit of an epiphany during this year’s All Star game that further confirmed I am against any efforts to increase scoring.  We saw a very high scoring game tonight in Montreal.  I’m not sure if this is what the increasing scoring advocates are going for but after a while it lost its luster.  The goal horn got a little bit annoying and frankly I really did not enjoy watching the best goaltenders the NHL has to offer get lit up.  I don’t think a 1-0 game every night would be all that exciting either but if you look around I think the NHL has a great balance right now.  You do get your share of high scoring games, occasionally a team will score 6 goals at home and the arena will be buzzing.  But if that were to happen every game that buzz would not be as exciting or may just go away all together.  At the same time, you also get a good share of games where the goaltender is the hero and steals the show.  I feel even stronger now that the league should not make any further adjustments in rules to try to increase scoring and take this opportunity away from the goaltenders.  All Star games are exciting, but usually become all about scoring.  Now that all star weekend is over I still look forward to hearing the goal horn at my next Ranger game, but I am even more ready to see some good defense and hopefully a Lundqvist shut out in the near future, it is equally exciting to me.

OK well before we wrap it up here I will give you my predictions for the remainder of the regular season.  This is purely guess work obviously, but if I’m right I will claim to be that I am an NHL expert.  If I get it wrong, well then I will remind you all it was just guess work.

 Eastern Conference: 1. Boston 2. Washington 3. Philadelphia 4. Montreal 5. NY Rangers 6. NJ Devils 7. Pittsburgh 8. Buffalo.     

Western Conference: 1. Detroit  2. San Jose  3. Vancouver 4. Chicago 5. Calgary 6. Anaheim 7. Dallas 8. Minnesota

I will hold off on the playoff predictions for now.  Until next time hockey fans!