Babcock Now Lone Wings Rep At ASG
With a team literally stacked with talent it comes as somewhat of a surprise that not one member of the Detroit Red Wings will be representing his team in an on-ice capacity this Sunday at the NHL All-Star Game in Montreal. Sure, there’s Wings head coach Mike Babcock, but he’s only serving as assistant to San Jose’s Todd McLellan for the boys from the West. The only two Wings who were slated to appear are both on the sidelines, one with a bum hip and the other with, well, some kind of injury. Datsyuk? Hip flexor. Lidstrom? At first the official word was that he’s still nursing a sore ankle from back in December, but now it’s being reported that he’s “suffering recurring elbow pain” and needs the rest. Such is life in the NHL.
According to Gary Meagher, NHL vice president of communications, the league attempted to secure another (only one?) Wing for this Sunday but attempts to contact GM Ken Holland were unsuccessful.
Datsyuk, one of the hottest players in the league the last few weeks, has 11 goals and 20 assists in 18 games. This will be the first time Lidstrom will miss the All-Star Game since 1997.
Posted by Paul Benvin
on Jan 22 2009. Filed under Central, Detroit Red Wings.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Thanks, Bruce. I’m having a blast already.
And in regards to your query, I did some digging and while I didn’t find anything about former cup champs having no on-ice talent at the All-Star game I did find this little nugget:
In fact, it’s the third successive mid-season classic in which no members of the reigning Cup champs were voted to the starting lineup in the annual fan ballot. The Anaheim Ducks (2008) and Carolina Hurricanes (2007) also came up empty. Since fan balloting began during the 1985-86 season, the New Jersey Devils (2001), Dallas Stars (2000) and Edmonton Oilers (1991) were other defending Cup champs who went without all-star starters.
I thought that was interesting in and of itself.
I’m quite surprised the Champs don’t have a representative. You’d think the coach could name a replacement just so that they ‘represent’. Lord knows there is plenty of talent to choose from. Too bad we don’t have a Historian writing here yet (we’re looking for one) or Stats man. It would be neat to know the last time a Cup champ had no on-ice reps at the all-star game.
Real nice few posts for you start here at THW, keep em’ coming Paul!