So Jason Spezza has been left off the Young Guns game for the NHL All-Star weekend despite the fact that he's better then all the forwards on the Eastern Conference team. I thought the NHL was trying to use the game to create a platform that could propel its young players into stardom. But I guess they'd rather make sure that Buffalo and Pittsburgh get (mediocre) representation for the weekend then giving one of the best young players in the league a chance to shine on a international stage.

Hell, Spezza should have been at the All-Star game instead of Primeau or Messier. But who wants to create young stars when they can give aging mediocre players a chance to dim the spotlight?

After all the owners don't need to create new stars to make more money, they can just battle the NHLPA for "cost certainty" instead. (0) comments

In Georges Laraque's most recent column on rds.ca (in French), the Edmonton enforcer makes it clear that he would not welcome a trade. How clear? He talks about not dropping the gloves if he's traded and that his heart wouldn't be in it for his new team.

Ever hear the line about when the crusher thinks he's a rusher he soon becomes an usher? Well, I think Big Georges should start applying at the movie theatres in Edmonton.

He'd rather live in Edmonton then fight for a Stanley Cup? Now why would any team in the NHL want this guy, even Edmonton?

It's too bad he's got a long term deal because if I were Kevin Lowe I wouldn't give him a qualifying offer but instead offer him a two way deal for the league minimum when his contract expires.

He's overpaid and the Oilers realize they're better off without him. I think the Oilers should try and demote him to their AHL affiliate in Toronto. Even if he gets picked up off waivers, they're still better off without him.

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Some dubious selections for the NHL All-Star game. Boynton? Roberts? Messier? Primeau? Kuba? You've got to be kidding me.

Boynton should not be at the game at the expense of Chara, McCabe or Gonchar. It's not even like he's a lone representative of the Bruins. Joe Thornton is there and he should be the only Bruin.

Messier, Primeau and, to a lesser extent, Roberts should not be there at the expense of Marc Savard, Mike Ribeiro, Alexei Kovalev or Martin Havlat. Absolutely brutal picks.

I can understand picking a Wild because the game is in Minnesota but to take Roloson and then pick Kuba over Ohlund, Jovonovski, Schneider, Foote and many others doesn't make sense to me.

And Peter Forsberg should be named to the team. I don't care how much time he's missed or even if he won't be able to make the game. He's the best player in the game today and it is a joke that he won't be invited. (0) comments

One of my favourite stats for evaluating a player's offensive ability is the stat that ESPN.com refers to as Production. It basically determines how much ice time a player averages to get a point.

It might not be perfect since players who play on the penalty kill are penalized for being on the ice a lot during non-offensive situations.

Below are the top 30 players accord to production as of last night who have played at least 20 games.

Rank	Player	Games	Icetime	Goals	Assists	Points	PROD
1	Peter Forsberg, COL	22	19:06	10	26	36	11:40
2	Alex Tanguay, COL	44	18:17	14	39	53	15:11
3	Keith Tkachuk, STL	39	19:27	19	26	45	16:51
4	Marian Hossa, OTT	46	18:54	23	28	51	17:03
5	Markus Naslund, VAN	47	19:25	25	28	53	17:13
6	Marc Savard, ATL	32	22:29	15	26	41	17:33
7	Robert Lang, WAS	47	21:21	23	33	56	17:55
8	Joe Sakic, COL	45	19:44	19	30	49	18:07
9	Martin Havlat, OTT	37	16:51	12	22	34	18:20
10	Zigmund Palffy, LA	35	21:29	16	25	41	18:20
11	Pavel Datsyuk, DET	48	18:29	21	26	47	18:53
12	Brett Hull, DET	47	17:17	16	27	43	18:53
13	Ladislav Nagy, PHO	42	18:34	20	21	41	19:01
14	Eric Lindros, NYR	36	16:03	10	20	30	19:16
15	Mike Ribeiro, MON	47	16:33	11	29	40	19:27
16	D. Alfredsson, OTT	45	19:29	19	26	45	19:29
17	Milan Hejduk, COL	46	18:53	23	21	44	19:44
18	Jeff Cowan, ATL	37	10:51	6	14	20	20:05
19	Michael Ryder, MON	47	15:27	14	22	36	20:10
20	Doug Weight, STL	39	21:13	10	31	41	20:11
21	Jason Spezza, OTT	47	14:48	14	20	34	20:27
22	Ilya Kovalchuk, ATL	48	23:52	25	30	55	20:50
23	Shane Doan, PHO	45	20:55	17	28	45	20:55
24	Jaromir Jagr, WAS	45	20:57	16	29	45	20:57
25	Pavol Demitra, STL	40	21:01	16	24	40	21:01
26	Mats Sundin, TOR	47	20:14	16	29	45	21:08
27	Martin St. Louis, TB	45	20:14	19	23	42	21:40
28	Pierre Dagenais, MON	25	13:54	10	6	16	21:43
29	Joe Nieuwendyk, TOR	36	16:26	11	16	27	21:55
30	Trent Hunter, NYI	42	15:10	15	14	29	21:58

Some interesting names on the list.

Maybe Eric Lindros isn't washed up after all.

Jeff Cowan? Pierre Dagenais? In the top 30?

Michael Ryder and Trent Hunter look like they could be the real deal when it comes to rookies. (0) comments

In response to an article on Vancouver Canucks Open Ed, I went off in the comments sections of the article about how Canadian fans tend to pick on the teams in the Southeast division. I wasn't directing my comments towards the authors of that blog when I wrote, "The way a lot of Canadian hockey fans pick on that division is like the football team picking on the science geeks back in high school". I think the authors are wrong about, "it (Winnipeg) seems a smarter option than almost every city currently represented in the Southeast division" but I wasn't commenting on them. I was commenting on the jingoistic notion that Winnipeg is more deserving of an NHL franchise then the current NHL markets in the southern US.

Go to any NHL message board and you will find Canadian NHL fans who make cracks about NASCAR, basketball or the inability to create an outdoor ice surface to justify why Winnipeg deserves the NHL more then Carolina/Florida/Tampa Bay/Nashville/etc. Unfortunately, if Winnipeg residents really wanted hockey more then those cities why wouldn't they elect governments that would build an NHL calibre building to their city? If the Americans are willing to pay for NHL buildings through their tax dollars, doesn't that justify them having a team at the expense of Winnipeg?

Besides, the Southeast division is an easy one to pick on. None of the franchises in the division have ever had a team that looked like a Cup contender (Carolina, Washington and Florida were teams that rode hot streaks to an appearance in the finals). With the exception of a few NHL markets, weak teams don't have great attendance. Winnipeg has never averaged 14,000 a game while this season the only Southeast team with an average attendance under 14,000 is Carolina. (0) comments

Martin Havlat was named the NHL's player of the week today. He didn't just put up the points last week, he was exciting. But a big part of his success was another player who has become an also incredibly exciting player - Jason Spezza. Havlat and Spezza might be the most exciting combination in the league right now.

Starting with the Nov. 29 game against Toronto, Spezza has gone from a young player with a ton of promise to a dominant NHL player. Check out the stats since that game: 24 games, 8 goals, 13 assists, +15. That's a 72 point pace over the course of 82 games. And what's more amazing is that he's been doing it while averaging less then 15 minutes of ice time during that stretch.

Spezza might turn out to be the best player from his draft and, no, I didn't forget Ilya Kovalchuk. If you prorate their stats this year to 82 games at 20 minutes a night, Spezza is on pace for 82 points while Kovalchuk is on pace for 78 points.

That's pretty amazing for a guy in his first full NHL season.

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