On Monday, it was announced that Andrei Vasilevskiy will replace Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins at the 2020 All-Star Games in St. Louis. The Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender will join defenseman Victor Hedman in St. Louis during the last three days of the Lightning’s bye week.
Rask will not be attending the event in St Louis without an injury excuse, so he will suffer a one-game suspension. Vasilevskiy has started in 33 of the 45 games for the Lightning, putting him on pace to start 60 games. On the other hand, Rask is on pace to start 47 as a result of Jaroslav Halak getting 20 starts in the team’s first 47 games.
Related
Tuukka Rask is skipping the All-Star Game, will serve a game suspension
I hate the All Star Games for every reason in the book. The whole voting process is fake and manufactured. Why the hell is Tyler Bertuzzi going to the All-Star Games?? Players can skip with barely any consequences, forcing others to lose time in their recovery process. Goaltenders with more total wins tend to get called for the ASG because the NHL still has no idea how to analyze their sport. On top of that, 3v3 is very strenuous on goaltenders, meaning the ones with higher workloads will have to play extra games in a form that is overly taxing on their bodies.
This game used to mean home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final. It used to be the best-of-the-best and an actual competition. While 3v3 is a fun idea, I still can’t get up enough on a Sunday to watch an overly fabricated and poorly marketed broadcast. It’s boring. I wish I could mute the commentators. I wish Heddy and Vasy were on a beach somewhere healing up for a long playoff run into June.
Oh, and to my Toronto readers, William Nylander deserves the marketing attention more than Mitch Marner. I’m sorry. It’s true and you’ll either love me or hate me for saying it.
Lightning Links
- Vasilevskiy also earned first star of the week honors, along with old headache and PDO surfer Anthony DeAngelo, and Calgary Flames goaltender Cam Talbot. [Sportsnet]
- Here are Alan’s thoughts from the loss to the New Jersey Devils. [Raw Charge]
- Here are Louis Domingue’s thoughts from his win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. [All About The Jersey]
- In Orlando Solar Bears news, the ECHL team played an old franchise friend the Norfolk Admirals in a weekend series split. [Raw Charge]
- Morgan Rielly of the Maple Leafs fractured his foot on Sunday, putting him out for eight weeks. Toronto’s defensive depth chart is now led by last season’s scratch, Justin Holl, as the other offensive defensemen on the team have all failed to meet expectations. [Pension Plan Puppets]/
