Mike Hoffman Selected To AHL All-Star Classic

Binghamton Senators forward Mike Hoffman has been selected to represent the B-Sens in the upcoming 2014 AHL All-Star Classic it was announced earlier today. The fourth year pro Hoffman is second in the AHL with 40 points (16g 24a 33gms) and is the leading scorer on the Senators. This is Mike’s first time selected to the AHL All-Star event.

The format will have an international flare to it and will feature a team selected from the Swedish Hockey League for the first time ever. This was released today on the AHL website;

"Taking place just prior to the start of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament, the 2014 AHL All-Star Classic will see a team of American Hockey League All-Stars face off against Färjestad BK, one of the top professional teams in the Swedish Hockey League, in an internationally televised two-day event including a Skills Competition on Tuesday, Feb. 11 and the All-Star Game on Wednesday, Feb. 12."

The entire team’s line-up can be viewed here. The new format has been seen with mixed reviews from the twitter side.

I’m all in favor of the new concept, but work needs to be done as players not picked will benefit from the extra rest they’ll enjoy, however, it’s still a cause for concern when you have a goalie that just earned the AHL Player of the Week award, has a league best 2.03 gaa and sv% 0.932 in that of Adirondack Phantoms Cal Heeter who wasn’t invited. Or Springfield Falcons netminder Jeremy Smith‘s league leading 16 wins also cannot be ignored as he was overlooked as well.

Rockford IceHogs team leading point producer defenseman Adam Clendening also leads the AHL in assists among D-men and no mention of him, and Brett Connolly of the Syracuse Crunch? Seriously? I realize it’s positional picks as part of the process but come on.

The AHL All-Stars will be led in St. John’s by Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2013 Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins, and Rob Zettler, head coach of the defending Eastern Conference champion Syracuse Crunch.