Friday’s Dump & Chase: Midseason Awards & Weekend Festivities

All-Star Weekend News & Notes:

All-Star Game chance for Sharks to reward fans, inspire more in San Jose - NHL.com
Catch yourself up on the history of hockey in San Jose.

Skinner, Crosby, Josi, Burns stand out from other all-stars - NHL.com
It’s kind of awkward how many times Mattias Ekholm’s name comes up in the paragraph about Roman Josi, but, y’know. (It would be great if Ekholm got a chance to go to an All-Star Game himself some year. Dear NHL: you know where to find him.)

Olympians to participate in NHL’s All-Star Weekend - The Ice Garden
Speaking of this weekend, for the second year in a row the NHL has invited some of the best players in the women’s leagues--both Americans and Canadians this year--to its All-Star Weekend.

Other News & Notes:

Last-place Senators stumble into all-star break with UFAs unsigned - Sportsnet.ca
So...what they’re saying is that Mark Stone is still up for grabs.

Coyotes hanging around in playoff race even as injury list grows – ProHockeyTalk
I'm in a sunbelt hockey kind of mood today (every day), and I’m excited. Listen, if the Coyotes get good, I can have people around here to talk about hockey with--and, much more importantly, a lot more kids might consider hockey as an option. Growing the game geographically is only part of what needs to be done, but it's a definite start. Here's to a lot more Auston Matthewses.

Young scorers lead the way as NHL All-Star weekend arrives – ProHockeyTalk
It’s almost like if you give players in their physical primes the opportunity to succeed, they will! GASP.

PHWA announces 2018-19 Midseason Award winners - thePHWA.com
#LangwayAward4NHLAwards #Ekholm4Langway

Also, as a few people have pointed out: they made a list of skilled defensive defenders and then they left Niklas Hjalmarsson off of it? Really? Really now? It's gonna be just like the Selke: you have to score to get considered for it.

Report: Datsyuk's future undecided, could return to NHL - Sportsnet.ca
Okay, who had the Pavel Datsyuk comeback in the office pool?

Getzlaf says Ducks 'not competing hard enough'
"Ryan Getzlaf said he is at a loss to explain the compete level of the Anaheim Ducks entering the break for the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend."

Oh, I can explain it. (It's because they're bad.)