As part of the NHL’s all-star game voting process, the league instituted a last man in for each division’s team. The New York Rangers’ last man in candidate is forward Mats Zuccarello, it shouldn’t.
As I’ve previously written, the NHL all-star game is a waste of time. The players would rather take a one-game suspension than make the journey to San Jose this year. As part of trying to drum up excitement for the stale concept, the league turned roster selection over to the fans several years ago, most infamously leading to John Scott being the captain of the Pacific Division.
This year, there are no career enforcers on a roster, in fact, there is some exciting young talent like Elias Pettersson, Matt Barzal, and Mikko Rantanen. The New York Rangers’ lone representative is goaltender Henrik Lundqvist who is making his fifth all-star game appearance. As the franchise cornerstone, there are no objections to the Swede being the team’s figurehead at the event.
However, when it comes to the last man in nominee, Mats Zuccarello, the same cannot be said. The Norwegian forward has missed a handful of games due to injury and his performance is not up to his personal standards. In fact, Zuccarello is on pace for his worst season since he came over to North America for good during the 2013 lockout-shortened season.
With the league selecting the forward as the team’s last man in candidate, it’s blatantly clear that the league is more interested in expanding branding and not getting the best players to the event. There are several other players on the Rangers more worthy of the honor and it would mean a lot more to them.
Even with a fan favorite like Zuccarello as New York’s candidate, it remains extremely unlikely that the diminutive forward would even get close to the final spot. With the team’s fanbase in such an apathetic state with how frustrating the 2018-2019 season has been.
But, there are clearly better choices than Zuccarello that could be more inspiring for people to get behind. None of Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes or Mika Zibanejad has ever made an all-star team before and are part of the new generation of Rangers that came in during the team’s postseason dominance.
All three forwards are on pace for career best years in terms of offensive production. It sounds pretty straightforward and obvious, but the original point of all-star games was to expose regional players to the national market. Lundqvist and Zuccarello are well known around the league for being staples within the Rangers’ organization.
Even if Zuccarello were to win the vote, it would defeat the purpose. Zibanejad is going to be one of if not the face of the franchise in the next decade. As the team’s number one center and most productive player, he was the obvious choice.
While no one actually cares about the all-star game, it would have been nice for some national recognition, even to just be in the final vote for one of Hayes, Zibanejad or Kreider.