Alex Ovechkin is among the NHL's most marketable figures, even in a below-average season by his standards. He won't be at the All-Star Game while he "protests" a three-game suspension – further evidence he did not belong in Ottawa in the first place.

TSN analyst Dave Hodge said it best: "Alex Ovechkin said what no NHL player will ever say again to a three-game suspension: let's make it four."

On Tuesday, Ovechkin supposedly backed out of this weekend's NHL All-Star Game as a way of protesting his three-game suspension that was handed down by the league just a day earlier. Yeah, right.

As if Capitals general manager George McPhee's public disagreement with Brendan Shanahan's decision for Ovechkin's leap at Zybnek Michalek wasn't enough, Ovechkin wanted to take it one step further by raining on this weekend's league-wide parade down Ottawa's famed Rideau Canal.

For Ovechkin, it was a public slap in the face to the league, one that rings louder in my ears than Tim Thomas' pushy political agenda – he decided to not attend President Obama's reception for the Bruins at the White House – because Ovechkin should not even have been in the All-Star Game from the start.

Ovechkin was only extended an invitation because he is one of the game's most marketable names and faces. His likeness has been a part of the game's media blitz since it was first announced.

His measly 33 points through Jan. 11, when the rosters were chosen by the NHL's hockey operations department, were barely good enough to break the Top 50 in league scoring.
And it's not like Ovechkin was selected because he was the only Capital worthy of representation, since defenseman Dennis Wideman already filled that void on the roster.

Instead, when the NHL's marketing arm influenced its hockey operations arm with the images of Ovechkin skating around in a sombrero at the Skills Competition in Montreal in 2009 dancing in their heads, it was for one reason only. To even pretend otherwise would be foolish.

Ovechkin, 26, was well aware. Ovechkin himself acknowledged his surprise when he found out he was selected in the first place. In fact, he already had a trip booked to a tropical destination for the weekend.

That's what makes this whole thing so hard to swallow. The league threw Ovechkin a bone. And Ovechkin responded with a slap in the face.

"It's all about the suspension I got," Ovechkin told CSNWashington.com. "I don't think I deserved to get the suspension I did for the hit I did. I'd love to go there. But it's not about what I want. I (did) not deserve it right now. I got suspended until Feb. 4, so I'm not going to play for that time."

So Ovechkin is not happy with his suspension? Fine. I get it. Name an NHL player who is thrilled with losing a boatload of cash and a chance to help their team in important, divisional games.

If Ovechkin doesn't think he should play, shouldn't he still travel to support an event that marketed him as a participant – much like Sidney Crosby did when he couldn't play in the 2009 All-Star Game but went to Montreal anyway?

Or is that too much to ask for a player who will bank more than $200 million by the time he's taken his last slap shot?

Ovechkin's response was childish. It was a cop out, an easy way to blame a suspension on not wanting to live up to his responsibilities as one of the game's true stars because he "wasn't into it."

The irony is that he was looking for star treatment from Shanahan, already griping about his ‘repeat offender' status despite the fact that he plays over the line more than most. If Dan Carcillo, who has been suspended three times this season alone, made the same hit on Michalek, he would have been booked with a ban double that of Ovechkin.

Star treatment is what got him a ticket to the game to start.

Truth be told, I don't feel for the fans or sponsors - young or old - who bought tickets to the event based on Ovechkin's appearance. He already visits Ottawa twice a year. But it's important to point out that the NHL cannot go without blame in this circumstance, either.

Why wouldn't Ovechkin's suspension, which will cost him about $155,000, include the All-Star Game? They are just as guilty for being so reliant on Ovechkin to help sell a big-money weekend that desperately needs some life and personality.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly was quoted in reports on Tuesday as saying that Ovechkin will not be disciplined for backing out of the game with just a few days notice.

Perhaps, though, the NHL's stance is an acknowledgement that Ovechkin's subpar season probably should have allowed for a more productive player in his place.

That's the way it should have been in the first place.

Frank Seravalli covers the Flyers for the Philadelphia Daily News. On Twitter: @DNFlyers

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Carcillo

Of course Carcillo would have gotten twice the suspension for the EXACT reason you stated. Ovechkin is not a "repeat offender" per the language in the CBA so the fact that Dhanahan used it in his explanation means that he was actually treated more harshly than he should have been.

Wrong in several other places including the fact that never used the word protest even tho you put it in quotes, but I've already wasted enough time on this,

Mark , January 26, 2012

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Carcillo

Of course Carcillo would have gotten twice the suspension for the EXACT reason you stated. Ovechkin is not a "repeat offender" per the language in the CBA so the fact that Dhanahan used it in his explanation means that he was actually treated more harshly than he should have been.

Wrong in several other places including the fact that never used the word protest even tho you put it in quotes, but I've already wasted enough time on this,

Mark , January 26, 2012

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