Written by Graeme Nichols | 21 January 2009

As Dany Heatley packs his bags in preparations for this weekend's All-Star Game festivities, we should all count our blessings that every NHL team is represented. If Yahoo! Sports' Ross McKeon had his way, no Senators player would be invited to participate.

Dany Heatley. Ottawa Senators and All-Star Game. What an oxymoron. Heatley? Sure, why not? On second thought, no, there should not be any Senators in this game. ~ Ross McKeon, Yahoo! Sports

Unfortunately, McKeon isn't being very creative in his analysis that no Sens player is worthy of participating. Perhaps he should have paid attention to his colleague's blog:

Last season's NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta was the first to incorporate the Breakaway Challenge, the League's version of the NBA slam dunk competition. Players were given a chance to create "trick-shot" goals that were then judged by a panel of celebrities and Bill Clement.

One slight miscalculation: Some of the goalies actually exhibited what we call "professional pride" and gave a damn about being used as a prop for carnival offense. Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders at least allowed the shooters to do their moves before making the save (and before getting injured ... in an all-star skills competition); Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks literally left his crease to poke-check Marty St. Louis. It was like watching the slam dunk competition with Kevin Garnett guarding the rim.

Perhaps that's one reason why many of the attempts were so underwhelming last season. The NHL, to its credit, is rectifying the situation for this Saturday night's event.

Gone are the all-star goalies with pride on the line; according the League, the current plan is for the goalie in the competition to be a "junior level guy from the Montreal-area" that (as of this morning) has not been selected. Maybe League officials will drive up to a rink in an unmarked van, put a bag over some random goalie's head, and he wakes up between the pipes in Montreal ...

One assumes this goalie will be someone who can look the part, respect the routine and then expertly wave at the puck as it flies by -- the hockey equivalent of a batting practice pitcher or, if you prefer, professional wrestling jobber. ~ Greg Wyshynski, Puck Daddy

What better way to welcome back Martin Gerber to the NHL than to have him participate as the goalie in the NHL Breakaway Challenge?

More disappointing than how undeserving any Senator is for the Game is the potential for the All-Star Break to kill any momentum that the team currently has. Currently sitting 12 points back of 8th place in the East, Ottawa will need a miraculous finish to have any chance at the postseason. (I think the odds of making the Playoffs are worse than the odds were that Dominik Hasek would suit up after injuring his hip abductor.) According to this afternoon's More On Sports radio program, the hosts looked at the past 15 seasons and determined that the biggest point deficit that a team has overcome was 7 points. It's important to note that the hosts meant that no team has overcome more than a 7 points deficit after the All-Star Game to claim the 8th seed. (Ironically, it was the 1996-1997 Senators team that overcame the odds.)

With the Playoffs seemingly out of reach and Ottawa sitting 10 points ahead of the lowly Islanders, the only salvation for their recent number of wins is that it will likely result in ownership giving Craig Hartsburg and Bryan Murray some more leeway to work with.

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