NHL ALL-STAR NOTEBOOK

updated 12:33 a.m. ET Feb. 7, 2004

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Right wing Glen Murray of the Boston Bruins and defenseman Pavel Kubina of the Tampa Bay Lightning were last-minute additions Friday to the NHL All-Star game, replacing Marian Hossa and Wade Redden of the Ottawa Senators.

Hossa was cut above his right eye Thursday night against Toronto, and Redden told the league he was ill.

Murray will make his second straight All-Star appearance, while this will be Kubina’s first All-Star game in seven NHL seasons, all with Tampa Bay. With 13 goals, Kubina trails only Sheldon Souray (15) of Montreal among defensemen.

One change was made for Saturday night’s YoungStars game, with Maple Leafs center Matt Stajan replacing Atlanta defenseman Garnet Exelby, who has a bone bruise on his left ankle.

With Hossa and Redden out, the only Senators player in Sunday’s game will be forward Daniel Alfredsson.

This game has a barenaked lady, too
Warning! Warning! There will be a bare, naked lady at this game, too — OK, a couple of them.

Barenaked Ladies, the Toronto-based group, will perform before the game and during the second intermission. The group goes on tour next week, prompting singer Steven Page to say, “This won’t be the only ice arena we’ll see this winter.”

No word if they’ll bump into Janet Jackson or Justin Timberlake on any of those dates.

Top shot
One contest traditionally has been no contest at the Super Skills competition held during the NHL’s All-Star weekend: Al MacInnis always had the hardest shot.

MacInnis won the last five hardest shot contests and is a seven-time winner overall, but he won’t compete Saturday night. The St. Louis Blues defenseman has a career-threatening eye injury that has forced him to miss all but three games this season.

MacInnis, whose shots hit 100 mph almost as often as Nolan Ryan’s fastballs did, won the 2000 contest in Toronto with a 100.1 mph shot while still recovering from a collapsed lung.

MacInnis’ absence makes for a wide-open field this year. Of the returning competitors, Calgary’s Jarome Iginla had the fastest shot a year ago in Sunrise, Fla., finishing third at 97.1 mph.

Despite MacInnis’ domination of the event, Al Iafrate holds the record with a 105.2 mph shot in 1993.

Absent star
Atlanta’s Dany Heatley was the story of the 2003 All-Star game after his record-tying four goals (or was it five?) led the Western Conference to a victory decided by shootout.

Heatley scored a fifth goal during the shootout. Because that goal was not scored during the three periods or overtime, the NHL decided it would not count in Heatley’s individual total.

Heatley went on to finish with 41 goals and 89 points for the Thrashers and appeared ready to become one of the game’s brightest stars for years. But a Sept. 29 car crash that killed teammate Dan Snyder and injured Heatley could affect him for the rest of his career.

Heatley needed reconstructive right knee surgery and resumed playing only last week. Now he must prove he can regain his skill level of the past two years. He was the 2002 NHL Rookie of the Year.

Good as goals
Fans bemoaning the lack of offense in the present-day NHL should enjoy the All-Star game.

Because of the virtual lack of checking, physical play and penalties, an average of 16 goals have been scored in the last 10 All-Star games — about 11 more than in a normal regular-season game this season.

For comparison’s sake, four NHL games played Thursday night didn’t produce 16 goals among them: St. Louis 2, Calgary 1; Montreal 2, New York Islanders 1; Detroit 3, Colorado 2 (OT); and Vancouver 4, New Jersey 0.

Brooks tribute
Actor Kurt Russell, who portrays U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks in the movie “Miracle” that opened this weekend, will take part in a pregame tribute Sunday to Brooks, a Minnesota native.

Brooks coached the Rangers, North Stars, Devils and Penguins and was the Penguins’ director of player development when he died in a single-car accident last summer.

A statue honoring Brooks was unveiled Thursday night near one of the Xcel Energy Center’s entrances. Brooks, one of the most revered figures in U.S. hockey history, coached a group of American college players to the 1980 Olympic gold medal. They beat the Soviet Union along the way in perhaps the greatest upset in sports history.

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