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Report: Sidney Crosby skipping All-Star Game - Who takes his spot?

2011 NHL Winter Classic Practice

during practice for the 2011 NHL Winter Classic on December 31, 2010 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jamie Squire

A report out of Pittsburgh tonight says that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will miss the All-Star Game thanks to suffering from a concussion. Crosby has missed the last eight games with a concussion and will be out of the Pens game against the Islanders on Tuesday. It makes perfect sense that Crosby would miss out on the NHL’s all-star shindig since his main responsibility is to the Penguins. Given that he’s on the shelf already and has been since the second week of January makes the case pretty strong that it’s all right to sit this one out.

This now opens the door for someone to be named to the All-Star Game and during CBC’s Hot Stove, ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun said the idea of having one of the rookies named to the rookie squad for the Skills Competition get named to the All-Star Game is an idea that’s out there. The theory there being that guys like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Ales Hemsky will have all the time they need the days leading up to the game to decide if they’re in or out knowing they’ll have reinforcements right there to choose from. It also means that some of those young guys will have to do something special to dazzle the other players and team captains during the Skills Competition to earn the call. With the old format of the game, players would have to decide early in the week if they’re going to play or not so the league could choose an injury replacement.

While the rookie selection idea has some merit to it and there’s some eligible stars to pick from there, including hometown guy and leading rookie scorer Jeff Skinner as well as Sharks rookie Logan Couture who’s the leading goal scorer amongst rookies. Of course, there are some guys who weren’t chosen for the game that would make great choices as well amongst NHL veterans. Guys like John Tavares of the Islanders, Joe Thornton of the Sharks, and Martin Havlat of Minnesota would be more than qualified as they’re top scorers on their teams.

How the league handles it will be interesting as either way provides either more intrigue at the team draft on Friday or turns the Skills Competition into a weird audition of sorts. After all, if guys like Malkin and Hemsky are drafted on teams on Friday night and then it comes out on Saturday that they’ll be replaced, all eyes turning to the rookies on Saturday with a potential announcement after the competition is completed could make Saturday’s events a must-see event, especially with team captains Eric Staal and Nick Lidstrom under the gun to pick Jeff Skinner at the hometown fans urging. I think we can see which way this might turn out.