Comments on: Rob Blake: Selanne and Lidstrom have earned the right to skip All-Star Game

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:00:50 +0000

Yeah, but they’d be less of a joke to viewers if everyone was required to go.

Though they should take out the “vote early & often” fan voting BS.

By: eddieapoc

eddieapoc — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:41:36 +0000

All star games are a joke. These guys have been to plenty anyway. If they want to stay home and give someone else a chance to go that sounds fine to me. I’m not sure what this writer is crying about.

By: barkar942

barkar942 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:20:36 +0000

Perhaps there can just be a permanent rule in the new CBA about the All Star Game – All players who are 35+ in the season they are selected to attend have the right to decline the invite from the league.
Most of the players over 35 who are invited will most likely be, in the future, Hall of Fame inductees.
By this point in their career, they should have the right to decline, which then allows other younger players to experience their first All Star Games. Perhaps those younger players being selected instead of these two will go on and become Hall of Fame material themselves.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:00:42 +0000

I dunno–that’s two Hall of Famers right there.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:43:12 +0000

If we start seeing more than half the players opting out then I might agree with you, but I don’t think just Selanne and Lidstrom choosing to do so diminishes anything.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:29:41 +0000

Nobody should be able to “earn’ the right to skip the ASG. Do we want to be the NFL, where nobody goes? The league should mandate attendance. I know players want to see their families, but from a business perspective, letting players opt out only diminishes the product.