I am, however, happy that Henrik Lundqvist and Mark Streit deservingly made the team. Nik Zherdev probably deserved consideration, but 4 Canadiens on the team when only one belongs (Andrei Markov) leaves out deserving players like Zherdev, Simon Gagne, and Alex Semin.
The Young Stars game is always fun but is never really taken seriously. This year, it's Rookies vs. Sophomores and I love the idea.
My one gripe is that I would have liked to have seen Kyle Okposo (13 points, 29 games) represent the rookies instead of Steven Stamkos (14 points, 40 games), but did we really expect the NHL to do that?
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In other news, Rangers 1st round pick in 2008 Michael del Zotto was just traded along with future #1 overall selection Johnny Tavares in the OHL. They were traded from the Oshawa Generals (Eric Lindros' former team) to the London Knights along with a goalie for a winger, a goalie, a defenseman, and six - yes, 6! - draft picks. London gave up 6 draft picks and 3 roster players for a goalie and then 2 players who might play in the NHL next year (or in del Zotto's case, atleast the AHL).
Steven Stamkos was a healthy scratch last night. As in, he couldn't even crack the roster of one of the worst teams in the league. So, of course, it makes perfect sense that Stamkos goes to the YoungStars game. I guess the NHL figures the name will help TV ratings, which is all these things are really about anyway. It's also worth noting that the rosters for the YoungStars game consist of nine skaters for each side. That's kind of weird.
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