from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- All-Star weekend is no more and no less than a promotional, marketing, sponsorship event for the NHL, so excuse me if I can’t find the logic in omitting Sidney Crosby — still the biggest name in the sport — from this year’s event in Nashville, Tenn., because there wasn’t room for him on Team Metropolitan.

Great for Nicklas Backstrom that he can play three-on-three with his linemate Alex Ovechkin, but would it not have piqued some intrigue to have had No. 87 and No. 8 together as a forward unit?

Wayne Gretzky with Mario Lemieux? Nah, let’s watch Gretzky and Jari Kurri, like we do every game.

- So let me get this straight: Mike Richards committed such a grievous act that the Kings, last June, were permitted by the NHL to void the final five years and $22 million of his contract for “material breach,” an act unprecedented in league history…

… Yet he was permitted by the league to sign a one-year pro-rated $1M free agent deal with Washington this week without any attached discipline even though the center — confirmed by The Post as previously having been placed in Stage One of the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse Program — still faces charges for possession of a controlled substance while attempting to cross the Canadian-U.S. border?

Baffling, from beginning to end.

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