All-Star Team Captains Named
All-Star team captains named / NHL.comWe can stop referring to the 2011 NHL All-Star Game opponents as Team Red and Team Blue. This morning, the league revealed the two team captains.
Eric Staal and Nicklas Lidstrom were selected by a vote of the 42 players named to this year's All-Star roster. Team Staal will wear red and Team Lidstrom will sport blue.
I'm not questioning the validity of the vote, but it does seem rather convenient that one of the captains plays for the host team, and as a pair, we have one from the East and one from the West.
To be fair, hockey players seem like a magnanimous bunch when it comes to things like this, so I could see them picking the hometown hero. And Lidstrom, well, he's an 11-time All-Star on his own. No question.
It is refreshing to see that Crosby (unless his injury keeps him out) and Ovechkin will be standing behind the fence waiting to be picked, and — perish the thought — not the center of attention. But it just goes to show who's popular among the players.
So how do you see the Fantasy Draft playing out? Does Staal take the North Americans while Lidstrom goes with the Europeans and Russians? Do they each get a Sedin twin? Do they snub their rivals?
An All-Star cover-up / Uni WatchWhile you ponder that, here's something else. Uni Watch posted a photo yesterday that clearly shows the decision to reformat the All-Star Game was made after the jerseys had already been designed — and produced for that matter.
As you can see, this All-Star jersey (left) on display at the NHL store in New York City is covering up a little secret.
The blue jerseys were originally going to be worn by the Western Conference team. Red would've been worn by the East, of course. And each conference would've gotten a brand new All-Star logo, as this does not match what was used in 2009, 2008 or 2007.
My guess is that the rest of the jersey design remained the same — the NHL shield as the crest and all — while the conference would've been identified only on the back beneath the number. I'm sure it would've looked just fine, but I'm glad they chose to reformat the game.
Regardless, it looks like Staal and Lidstrom ended up in the right sweaters anyway. Now the question is, who will join them? We find out on Friday, Jan. 28.
Chris
via NHL.comLooks like the NHL's graphics guys have been busy Photoshopping player's heads onto jerseys they haven't yet worn.
Just saw this image (right) on the the All-Star page of NHL.com and thought some of you might find it amusing. It shows recently announced captains Eric Staal and Nicklas Lidstrom "wearing" their All-Star Game sweaters.
Clearly, the jerseys are the same photos that were released earlier this month. If you don't believe me, take a closer look at the creases and folds compared to the images posted here.
It's no big deal and it makes sense from a marketing standpoint to give us something visual to tie these players to the teams they'll be drafting. It's not worthy of its own blog post but I did think it was funny. I'll be pulling for Team Lidstrom, what with Marty St. Louis being named an alternate captain. Hope he lobbies hard to get Stamkos picked first overall!
Reader Comments (16)
rounded name plate?
I was in the NHL store this afternoon, and saw the same coverup.
Another possibility I thought of - maybe the players will have their conference "wordmark" under their number on the back?
I would imagine that these jerseys were made since the fantasy draft was announced, so they would have known that the east/west format was over.
Just my 2 cents.
Whats up with the rounded nameplate on the "cover-up" jersey?
Fans of the NY Giants will no doubt appreciate the rounded nameplates.
Don't you think it would have been better to give Lidstrom... I dont know....
THE RED TEAM.
Just throwing that out there.
skills competition is the only reason i watched any of this before, but this new way of doing it may make me want to watch the actual all-star game
Am I the only one who will find it weird to see Lindstrom in Blue?
Staal plays for a red team too... I second DevilsFan on players still having their conferences displayed regardless of which team they are on
Not sure why you guys are surprised to see Lidstrom in blue. The Western Conference logo and all-star uniforms have been blue since 1997. And I think the last time he wore anything close to red at an all-star game was 2002 on the World team. Anyway, it's better that the red goes to the host team player since the host team is red.
Okay folks...not that the jersey color really matters but, for some reason it seems to more under this format but .... the Hurricanes also wear Red home jerseys so nothing wrong with Staal representing Team Red and Team Sweden wears blue jerseys as well as the more well known gold Tri-Krona so it's not that weird to Lidstrom in blue either.
Hey Wolf,
Why can't you see Lidstrom in blue? Sweden's international hockey jerseys (Olympics, World Championships, World Juniors, etc) are gold and blue and they wear those blue ones at least 33% of the time while favoring the gold ones. With Staal being from the home team, it makes total sense to me to give him the jersey with the red and Lidstrom, who will no doubt move back to Sweden and raise his kids there, the blue jersey.
Hey guys I saw something interesting while trying to customise an all-star jersey on shop.NHL.com today. It says:
"Please Note: Team logo patches are not included on the jersey."
So I'm thinking, is this because it's a customised jersey and it doesn't give you that option or will there simply be no logo patches this year? If anyone has any insight into this, please let me know!
Im curious and a little confused, is that just a sticker on the jersey or was something stitched over the conference name?
Would they really try to do such a cheap and easy cover up on jerseys that are on display that anyone can touch? You think they would at least do a good job sewing it in place. Cause that guy is just peeling it off...
Or was this an early prototype jersey or something...
Hey Brad,
that was a rectangle of material that was the same color as the jersey that was glued in the center of the material strip....so both sides can be moved to reveal the two sides of the "west" logo
the "west" underneath looked like it was a regular patch (whether it was stitched or the screen-printed heat press material, i dont know - at that point, an store employee came over and asked if he could help me find anything)
Cool, thanks Devilsfan.
Anyone see the CHL top prospects game tonight? The jerseys had a similar patch (instead of east and west, they said Orr and Cherry) but instead of below the number on the back it was below the CHL logo on the front, thought that was interesting, Reebok is obviously trying new things...
In Ottawa, for some reason at the Sens store they are only carrying the White/Red jerseys... how do they know Karlsson won't be on the Blue side??? Hmm...