Hey man - you're an all-star - get your game on - go, play

It's All-Star Weekend in the NHL this weekend. Yawn.

I've long been over the All-Star game. The skills competition might pique my interest from time to time but the actual game is hugely boring. Although if Gary Bettman wants to increase scoring in the NHL, maybe every game should be an All-Star game, what with all the scoring usually involved. That was one thing I never really understood. Given, the All-Star game should have the best goal-scorers playing but it should also have the best goaltenders playing. To me, that meant the scores should be 2-1 or 3-2, not 12-9 (in 2007) or 8-7 (in 2008).

Perhaps I would care more if there was some benefit to actually winning the All-Star game. The format is now Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference but the winning conference doesn't get any kind of advantage. I'm not sure what that advantage/prize/benefit would be, but there's got to be something. Without a reason for winning, the game is really just a watered-down version of the sport, with the best players playing mediocre at best.

What I do find interesting is that players who are chosen as all-stars but do not attend are penalized with a one-game suspension. This I don't even understand. I know Gary Bettman is desperately trying to sell the game but punishing players for not attending? Maybe they just want a break. Two notables suspensions are Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, both of Detroit, who will miss a game next week. Frankly, I think it should be the player's decision to attend, if chosen as an all-star. Every year, there are plenty of great players not chosen for the game so if your first choice can't make it, then move along to the next...and the next...and the next...however many times it takes to round out the team.

But really, in the end, it doesn't matter all that much. The game is really just a way for the NHL to make some money, for the players' pension fund to fatten up a bit more and for avid NHL fans to actually figure out what to do with a Saturday night when there's no relevant game to watch.

One bright spot: Zdeno Chara and his charity challenge during the Skills Competition. THIS is the kind of thing that makes it great.