As we all have heard a hundred times before, Gabriel Landeskog is the only Avalanche player participating in the All Star Game activities this weekend. So what are the rest of the guys doing?

What we know:

TJ Galiardi has flown down to Cabo San Lucas with Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart. Sure is good thing the Teej trained so hard in the off-season, or he might not be in shape for all the beer pong they're bound to play.

David Jones is also headed to Mexico, but accompanying him is his new wife. I wonder if they even bothered to bring sun block.

Stefan Elliott went home to Vancouver. Hopefully all that good home cookin' doesn't put him into a food coma.

Shane O'Brien is having a quiet weekend in Aspen, hanging out with some really demure U of Arizona girls: @KERafferty, @Abbychandor, @eymann66

Ryan O'Byrne also went home. He's enjoying some R&R, but he's also still working on his charity: Ryan O'Byrne Charity Camp, launching on Feb. 1st.

Kevin Porter is yet another one going home. Sure hope he doesn't spend too much time there, or he may end up infected. He did say he's spending time in Ann Arbor. I hear it's a much nicer place.

Semyon Varlarmov is in Aspen watching the X-Games. (Thanks to Lisa Jordan for the heads up.)

Daniel Winnik is also in Aspen. I bet he's sipping hot cocoa by the fire with O'Brien and his sweet friends.

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The NHL is missing the mark entirely on the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft. In just a couple of minutes of contemplative thought, I've already come up with several ways to improve the experience for the fans and the players, something that is rare in the world of hockey.

• First of all, the name. What's 'fantasy' about it? The players exist in the real world, the game actually occurs, and the results are tangible. It's not a grandiose statistical simulation like fantasy hockey or fantasy football. Just call it what it is: The All-Star Draft. The only way you should be allowed to call it a fantasy draft is if after the whole thing is over, the teams should huddle and come up with a hilarious name for their team: The Soft Euros, Team ESL, All Killer-No Filler, The Cap Busters, Milbury's Mistakes, Next Year's Philly Goaltenders, etc.

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The Colorado Avalanche used to be seen as a "stacked" team. Since the CBA Colorado's elite talent pool has dwindled, they no longer get as many representatives to the All Star games.

If I were to ask you: "What year did the Avalanche send the most hockey players to the All Star games?" Would you say 1996? Or how about 2001? While those two years the Avalanche were able to procure Lord Stanley's Cup, they weren't the years that the Avalanche had the strongest representation. The 1998 season would be the one that saw the most Avalanche players in All Stars gear. What follows is the players that the Avalanche have sent, per year, with a short blurb about each player and their season that earned them the nod. You'll notice that it's often the same guys that went to the games, and if you are anything like me, you'll youtube some of these guys and revel in what they brought to the team.

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Regardless of your opinion on the overall make-up of the team, where you think they'll finish the '11-'12 season, or the front office practices I think we can all agree that several stalwart Colorado players have been less than outstanding underwhelmed this season. In you're heart-of-Burgundy-hearts, who do you think is the most likely to have a 2nd half resurgence in Denver? Who's gonna be the player that rights his own personal Costa Concordia? Will it be perennial gap-toothed assistant captain Paul Stastny? Will it be franchise face Matt Duchene? Will Old Man Winter Milan Hejduk up his production for another run at 25 goals? Will purported No. 1 netminder Semyon Varlamov see a lessening of his bench door duties? Will David Jones give a fuck regain his goal scoring touch? Vote in the poll below and sound off in the comments to let the MHH readers nominate their 2nd Half Turnaround Candidate!

This would certainly be an event that I would love to see televised.

An exhibition match marking the 40th anniversary of the hockey's legendary 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union could be played next month on Red Square, Russia's sports minister told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"We have a working group, we have found partners on the Canadian side and sent them an invitation. We plan ceremony along with a hockey match on February 26. I don't rule out that the match will take place on Red Square," Vitaly Mutko said.

An official close to event organizers told RIA Novosti that 30 stars of past and present had been invited to take part, and four had already accepted: Former Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ray Bourque; Finland's former Edmonton Oilers forwards Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen; and Paul Henderson, who scored Canada's winning goals in the last three games of the summit series, securing victory for Canada.

An article about how the NHL is lacking "superstar" talent.

And this cuts to the heart of the issue: it’s not that the All-Star Game lacks stars. The entire NHL is missing its marquee mojo at the moment.

Just a few years ago, Sidney and Ovie were the young faces of the game, poised to carry hockey for the next decade or more, ideally situated in the U.S. centres of Pittsburgh and Washington. Armed with a new collective bargaining agreement and rules to free up the game (dangerously so, it turns out), could hockey have been in better hands?

Then, Crosby was struck down in January of 2011 and hasn’t been able to recover sufficiently to stay in the Penguins’ lineup, evolving from Face of the Game to unwitting poster child for the concussion problems running rampant in hockey and football.

Meanwhile, Ovechkin has faded demonstrably, if not quite as suddenly, since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Sure, good-to-great players are all around us. But let’s not pretend that Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk, as skilled as they are, can capture the imagination of fringe fans.

I guess the prospect of a new car and a donation to their favorite charity means that the players won't mind getting picked last for the All Star weekend.

In the days leading up to the NHL all-star game last year, the first time the players were chosen in fantasy draft fashion, there was much hand-wringing over who might be picked last – and how that snub might affect his all-star experience.

Then Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs was picked last. For the dubious distinction, he received a car and a donation to his favourite charity. Now, suddenly, there is no stigma attached to being last – and maybe even a little cachet. Last weekend, Detroit Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk, who could be the best player in the NHL right now, ventured it would be okay with him if he were the last man sitting, as long as there was a shiny new vehicle waiting at the end of the auditorium.

Vote for Defending the Blue Line in the Joining Forces Community Challenge, and help them get recognition for the work they do. Go to this website, click on Vote and then "Like" it so that your friends and family on Facebook can read about the program and vote too. This is important stuff, folks. We all know the kind of therapeutic effect hockey can have. Let's make sure others know too.

Info on the challenge and Defending the Blue Line:

In April 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched Joining Forces, a national initiative to support and honor America's service members and their families. The initiative aims to educate, challenge and spark action from all sectors of our society—citizens, communities, schools, non-profits, faith-based institutions, philanthropic organizations, and government—to ensure military families have the support they have earned.

In an effort to recognize those citizens and organizations with a demonstrated, genuine, and deep desire to be of service to military families, the First Lady and Dr. Biden have established the Joining Forces Community Challenge. The Challenge was established with the expectation that recognizing and celebrating those who are dedicated to improving the lives of military families will have the added benefit of encourage others to do so as well.

Defending The Blue Line was founded in the spring of 2009 by 2 currently serving National Guard Soldiers from Minnesota. To date we have provided over $500,000 in benefits to military families across the US. We provide free hockey equipment, grants to help with association fees, free summer hockey camps, and NHL game tickets.

Here's a video about the organization, as well as their website: http://www.defendingtheblueline.org/

UPDATE: Just thought ya'll would like to know that Tyson Barrie has been named to the AHL All Star team. Barrie has 5g and 21a in 43 games for the Monsters, good for first on the team. He's 5th in the league in scoring and tops for all rookies. - Cheryl



Ryan O`Byrne is doing good in his old community. Please follow the link for more details.

The Ryan O'Byrne Youth Sports Society is pleased to announce the creation of the Ryan O'Byrne Charity Camp(ROCC).

Alexander Ovechkin will not be participating in the NHL All-Star festivities.

Are you worried about facing questions about it in Ottawa?
"Again, I love the game, it’s a great event, I’d love to be there. But I’m suspended. I don’t want to be, like, a target. I feel I’m not deserving to be there right now. If I’m suspended, I have to be suspended, so that’s why I give up my roster (spot)."

Do you feel like you’re making a statement?
"No, actually. It’s not about that. It’s all about the suspension that I got — I don’t think I deserved to get a three-game suspension for the hit that I did … it’s not about that. I’d love to go there. I already buy my tickets, and my friends have to go there, too. But again, it’s not about what I want. I don’t deserve it right now. I got suspended. I’m suspended until Feb. 4, so I’m not going to play until that time."

I thought this was an interesting article about how violence in hockey is not anything new.

The provincial government of the day asked Bill McMurtry to investigate violence following a number of incidents, key among them a decision by one junior team to withdraw from a championship series out of fear. He was asked to examine the "causes" of such violence at the lower levels and concluded that the No. 1 cause was the influence of the NHL and the use of violence as a tactical instrument, most dramatically illustrated by the rising success of the "Broad Street Bullies" Philadelphia Flyers, who won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975.

8th place in the west was up for grabs tonight in the final game for both squads before the All-Star break, and the game began with some palpable urgency as both teams attempted to make a statement. In the end, the Avs statement was something like "oops".

The Avs were without Ryan O`Reilly tonight as he came down with an illness right before the game. With Ryan Wilson coming back and a plethora of defensemen eager to dress, Coach Sacco decided to roll with 7 defensemen in the absence of the Avs' leading scorer. The shortened forward corps made from some new line combinations, and one of those, the line of Landeskog - Galiardi - Hejduk, struck early. After a dominating shift by the Paul Stastny line, T.J. Galiardi and company brought the puck into the visitor's zone with some speed and Galiardi sent a bad angle backhander up and over Backstrom for the early lead.

A few penalties eventually led to a Minnesota powerplay goal that looked as if it changed direction off of Landeskog on it's way past Giguere. 1-1. Shortly after the goal, Erik Johnson dropped NHL hit leader Cal Clutterbuck with a sampling of his own medicine. Cal looked up at the refs to see if it was a penalty - no Cal, that's just what it feels like to get hit. Now get up please. Go back and play with your friends.

With just under 4 minutes left in the first, the Avs fell victim to another breakaway (Bobby Ryan had at least 3 of his own last game in Anaheim), as Kyle Brodziak broke in alone on Giguere after Jan Hejda got pummeled at Minnesota's blueline and no one was back to defend. Giguere made the save, but more disheartening than the initial breakaway was that no one hustled back to pick up the trailing Dany Heatley who snapped Brodziak's heads-up pass up and over Giguere far side. 2-1 Mild.Timeout Avalanche. Period ends with the Avs being outshot 13-4 and out-face-offed 13-5. The Avs fell asleep after the first goal - maybe they thought the game was over?

The Avs sniffed some smelling salts during intermission and promptly tied things early in the second when Daniel Winnik's wrister squeezed through Backstrom and rolled along the goalline before Chuck Kobasew punched it home. If that play had happened in the first period, no Avalanche player would have been near that loose puck, but luckily, Chuck the veteran, woke up.

A little bit later, Winnik got straight up boarded - NO CALL - and since the refs didn't want to do their job, Daniel decided to police things himself and immediately challenged his assailant. Both went off for 5 mins, but DW also got 2 mins for a slash to kick off the scrap. Nuts and bolts. Nuts and bolts. We. Got. Screwed. Avs step up and kill the penalty, but the majority of the rest of the period is spent in their own zone. Another bad penalty (Shane O`Brien) gave Minnesota their 5th powerplay of the game. All these penalties stifled any momentum the Avs could have mustered and they were lucky to get out of the period still tied at 2. Shots 22-11 Land of 10,000 lakes. The NBC play-by-play man kept blurting "Colorado survives!" - and that's what it felt like, by the skin of their teeth.

With 12:16 to play, Shane O'Brien tried to do too much and gets stripped of the puck leading to a two-on-nobody. Wild score to take a lead 3-2. Horrible play. All 5 Colorado players sat on the blueline as O'Brien tried to stick handle the puck into the offensive zone. Nobody back to play D. It's a 2-2 game, you don't need all 5 players jumping up into the play. That also makes 5 breakaway goals against in the last two games. Teams are making the Avs pay for their mistakes.

• Giguere, 31 saves, played well and bailed his team out of most of their breakdowns
  
• Johnson, solid all around game, 4 hits
  
• Kobasew, why not.
  

• Jones - Stastny - Mueller
• Winnik - McClement - Kobasew
• Landeskog - Galiardi - Hejduk
• McLeod - van der Gulik

• O'Byrne - Hejda
• O'Brien - Johnson
• Quincey - Wilson
• Elliot

• Giguere

• In our first glimpse of the Avs without the new and improved O'Reilly, it was painfully apparent how much they need his steady and calm presence on the ice - and his faceoff prowess.
• Johnson had a good game tonight. Good work with his stick and his body (TWSS). He seems to be developing a bit of some baditude as he's playing with some nastiness and a visible scowl on his face.

NHL.com recap

Game Summary

Event Summary

Avs are off till next Tuesday, the 31st, when the take on the Oilers in Edmonton, 7:30pm.