Sure, some guys get snubbed and you can argue all day if you want (I don't want) on whether picks should be based on this year (Baily) or legacy (Price) or who got snubbed.
I personally would have loved to see Morgan Rielly get some recognition, and it's just plain confusing that Vladimir Tarasenko isn't going, but generally I could not give less of a crap about the all star game.
No matter who is going, I am still going to watch it with my son, I'm still going to have an excuse to start drinking in the afternoon (not heavily) and I'm still going to make a sweet Draftkings lineup for it.
So who cares?
If you do care, Braden Holtby and Alex Ovechkin are going. John Carlson and Devonte Pelly-Smith are not.
Coyotes Trade
Generally speaking, I've been a fan of the work of John Chayka. Ridiculously, he's been labeled as the poster boy for analytics in hockey, even though the Coyotes are not run like a team that is all-in on analytics, and his company has been said to resemble the general 'analytics' movement in the way that triangles resemble circles.
Basically, it's a convenient narrative with a complicated truth that doesn't fit the arguments of nearly anyone who'd bother to make them. To no avail, I tried to point this out on several occasions.
Anyways, I've liked almost every trade he's made, but last night's trade with the Blackhawks was stupid. That isn't a hyperbolic hot take. I've crunched the numbers. This trade is insanely bad for the Coyotes.
Anthony Duclair, a player who can drive possession, who makes nearly every player he plays with better, who put up 2pts/60 as a rookie, who can score, and whose so-called inconsistently can be blamed on the two coaches who refuse to play him even when he'd put up solid numbers, was just given away for absolutely nothing.
The Coyotes had Laurent Dauphin for years. He's about as much of a prospect as I am at this point.
The Coyotes also got the older, slower, more expensive and much worse Richard Panik.
And hey, they threw in Adam Clendenning - a player who's always put up solid numbers when he plays, but who never gets much of a chance. The Coyotes wouldn't play him over Luke Schenn which should prove to you how much of an "analytics guy" Chayka is.
Anyways, this trade is total garbage. A dumb move by the worst team in the NHL.
Duclair scored a hattrick on November 18th during a run of six points in five games. Then, two games later, he's playing nine minutes on his way to being healthy scratched.
In 2015-16 Duclair scored 20 goals and 44 points. Then he came to training camp and found out he'd lost his job to a 36 year old, despite the team being in a rebuilding process. The first day of training camp he was on the fourth line and getting no ice time.
Then the team complained about his attitude.
The Coyotes have sabotaged their own asset. They have given away a 22 year old with blazing speed who has been a positive relative corsi player for his entire career.
Guess who leads the Coyotes in points per minute of ice time?
Of course it's Anthony Duclair. He scores more per/60 than Clayton Keller, gets more shots per 60 and has a lower shooting percentage.
What an embarrassment of a trade for the Coyotes. Just absolutely horrible.
Then again, they won't admit that Rick Tocchet is the worst coach in hockey (arguable the history of pro sports haha) and use the fact that this terrible coach won't play him as an argument for wasting an asset.
I am a legitimate fan of the Coyotes and this trade enrages me.
stats from corsica.hockey and naturalstattrick.com
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