New York Rangers: An All-Star history

What you don’t want to happen

In 1987, the All-Star Game was replace by a two game series pitting the best NHL players against a team of the best players from the USSR.  Unlike most All-Star games, this series was hard fought as both teams wanted to win with them splitting the series 1-1 and the USSR outscoring the NHL team 8-7.

New York Rangers Tomas Sandstrom was the team’s sole representative. He was the team’s top scored with 30 goals and 27 assists for 57 points in 49 games. Near the end of the first period of the first game, Sandstrom went into the corner with Russian Andrei Khomutov and badly hurt his ankle.  It turned out to be fractured and he missed a full month of playing time.

With Chris Kreider the main trading chip for Rangers as we head towards the NHL Trading Deadline, every time he takes a hit or blocks a shot, he risks an injury that could derail the Rangers’ rebuilding plans.  Adding a game to the schedule only increases the risk.  The only good thing is that the All-Star Game tends to be a risk-free event, though knowing the luck of the Blueshirts, anything can happen.

There have been many iterations of the all-star event in the NHL.  With the current format, it feels like the NHL has gotten it right. It’s a fun weekend and no one takes it too seriously.  We’ll see how it goes this year.