Kings Gameday: Mad skillz

All-Star games are...affairs. They are only mildly competitive, offer no defensive or physical play, and has everyone half assing it like it is a mid-season blog post they are writing at 11 PM. There can sometimes be like 45 goals or something scored and really, it doesn't amount to shit. The goal horn goes off, people clap, and by the time they are done showing a replay someone else just scored. It lacks substance and character. Just like the Sharks.

The skills competition however, that's where the real action is at. Yeah, the actual competitions themselves are kinda lame, like which goalie can skate the fastest or who can do the quickest line change, but the players actually care. They want to have the title of hardest shooter, fastest at faceoffs, or best at biting their own tongue hard enough to draw a double minor penalty for high sticking. You play for pride. You certainly can't do that while you play a meaningless hockey game to only try and win for Jonathan Toews who selected you in the sixth round.

Don't get me wrong, having All-Star teams are great. It gives you players that were the best that season (so far). But half of them bail because they don't want to play. Maybe because they are tired, or don't want to get hurt, or think that All-Star games are lame, who knows?

The biggest difference is this: The All-Star game doesn't prove who is better. No one tries and the teams are assembled by two NHL players, and let's be real, pro athletes typically aren't the smartest bunch of guys. So way to go. You picked a team, in the manner of how elementary school kids pick teams for kickball, slightly better than the other Cro-Magnon  The skills competition at least settles who's the best, which is always the most important. Like who's the best. Cause the Kings are the best. They win Cups. That's the only skill that matters.

God dammit the Kings are awful right now and I can't really get pissed about it because they've been so damn successful the past few years. They could very well shit all over themselves for the remainder of the year and win another Stanley Cup. Or they could miss the playoffs entirely. I'm okay with either at this point because I'd like a summer off. All this extra work during the summer makes me feel like I'm in junior high again.

As for the Kings, Alec Martinez made one stupid mistake and the Kings lost the game. I was unable to console him because of that damn restraining order. Also, not a big fan of the lines. I'm not a fan of any of their play lately though.

Prediction: Kings lose after Drew Doughty eats a puck.