Naming Conventions: The New All Star Teams

What to do, what to do?

With a potentially great, new way of choosing the All Star team players upon us (way to go Shanny!), there's another consideration to be made here: What do they name the teams? I think you have at least four potential courses of action (COAs) here.

COA 1 - The Captains

Yes, you could surely name them after the two team Captains. They will, for all intents and purposes, be those Captains' teams ala road hockey style. I like the concept. It has a cool upside as a tip of the hat to pond/street hockey. The downside is a slight risk of alienating the non-true Hockey fan by picking someone else's player and not 28 other teams' fan favorite. Risk here is minimal, though. I rate this option at 3.5 of five stars.

COA 2 - The Coaches

Another option. In my opinion, it is just an OK COA. You have two downsides: people tip their hat to a coach, but really like their bench bosses semi-transparent; and you will alienate 28 other teams by putting CURRENT coaches behind the bench. If recognizing the coaches in this manner is desired, you cannot pick this COA unless you pick a retired coach. Think Scotty Bowman, here. This COA is a bit dicey, so I rate it two out of five stars.

COA 3 - The Old School

Here's an option for you to consider. Something like a Wales Team and a Campbell Team. Rockin' the RBC with an acknowledgement of the old NYI and EDM dynasty days? That is a slick option. The only drawback I see immediately? There will be people in attendance and watching via their favorite media method who will need to be told just what a Wales and Campbell are. Give this one three of five stars.

COA 4 - My Favorite

This is the best COA in my opinion. Name the teams after two great, former players. Make them the honorary team GM's. Give them a role as team spokesmen and choose a couple of venues for media and fan interaction, and give them some access to the team for inspirational purposes. I am a fan of Team Howe and Team Orr this year. I flat out rate this as a five-fer-five stars, on the Richter scale, or any other way you want to measure it.

And I leave it to the Puck Daddy staff and fans to tell us: If you chose one of the above COAs, what does your jersey look like?