First off, I'm going to file this lastest Peter Forsberg rumor under the heading, "scurrilous rumor."

He did not contact Colorado. He's not going to Colorado. No one contacted the Flyers to seek permission to talk to Foppa during the All-Star break.

"It's not true," said a frustrated Peter Luukko, the president of Comcast-Spectacor, who is running the Flyers these days if you are not familiar with the name.

"No club would go over us to contact him directly and you know what kind of stand-up guy Peter is, he would not talk to another club without permission. He's not that kind of person."

I stick to what I have been saying. I don't see Forsberg being traded unless he asks.

"We want to re-sign and we sit down with him to talk about his future," Luukko told me. "We want this guy playing first.

"It's going to be like this [rumors] for a while, I guess. Last week, we had reports he was going to the Rangers. I guess this is what is going to happen now [rumors]."

Yep.

**

Now onto the good stuff ...

DALLAS _ There was a pretty strong consensus among writers and broadcasters at this 55th All-Star Game that some changes need to be made to the first night’s activities with regards to the YoungStars Game and the SuperSkills competition.

I’ve been doing some talking to people, listening to ideas, and on behalf of Hockeybuzz.com, Panotch has come up with some variations of what we already have that could easily improve the first night’s activities.

First off, we have to agree that the YoungStars Game was brutal, as Peter Forsberg would say. Just awful.

I thought the players weren’t even into the event. Colorado goalie Peter Budaj was a sieve. I swear on my 1967 Peter Puck that for most of the game, Budaj looked like he was cadaver in net _ motionless. I thought the medics should have tested him for a pulse.

I can’t believe Adrian Dater thought he was a star in that game. Adrian, you’ve seen too many Avs games this season, Wanna switch with the Flyers beat?

Anyway, here’s our suggestion. We kill the YoungStars Game and replace it with YoungStars vs. Top Prospects.

Forget the four-on-four Bullwinkle. We’re gonna play five-on-five hockey with the best, young talent we have in 2007 against either the top 20 junior prospects in Canada/U.S. or the top 20 overall draft prospects, as ranked by NHL Central Scouting. Assuming we can get all them on site.

Wouldn’t you have rather seen Patrick Kane, Angelo Esposito, Sam Gagner, Alexei Cherepanov against Anzie Kopitar, Alexander Radulov, Phil Kessel, Zach Parise and Jordan Staal?

Is there anyone out there in Hockeybuzz.land who doesn’t think the prospects would look at this as an opportunity to show themselves off before the draft and maybe even increase their value (read $$$) and draft-placement status?

This would be a game with some meaning to the kids who haven’t made it to the NHL while putting some pressure on the younger lads who have so they not to take their upstarts too lightly.

Let’s talk about the SuperSkills. That gimmick called “In the Zone” _ I thought they meant the erogenous zone at first since we’re in Big D, home of the widest strips clubs around, but my Canadian buddies quickly set me straight.

“In the Zone” has three shooters passing the puck back and forth with one taking a shot on the goalie. Tell me that wasn’t more boring than reading Boy Genius’ one paragraph summary of “Things to Do in Buffalo”?

Yeah, let’s throw “In the Zone” away and replace it with a drill that incorporates breakaways and defense. Let’s have “2-on-1” or “3-on-2” breakaways.

Assuming next season at the All-Star Game … I envision Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin going up against Chris Pronger. Or Crosby, Ovechkin, and Danny Briere against Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. With Roberto Luongo in goal.

Tell me that would be more interesting than “In the Zone”? Do ya think we might actually get some skill out of that? Maybe get the fans into it? Maybe hear them cheer and keep them in their seats the entire night?

Now, I have to admit I like the “One-on-one” shootout at the very end. But if you noticed, we have three rounds of shootouts at SuperSkills. It’s all broken up, too. And it kept changing.

Let’s dump the whole thing. Replace it EVERY player getting one shot in a shootout against the goalie. Make it round-robin. Each player who scores, stays alive and advances to the next round against a different goalie until we have a winner.

Keep it East vs. West so we have team competition along with individual competition.

Did I mention that we give the winning shooter a fat check for $25,000 or a Dodge Charger, assuming Chrysler is still the NHL’s preferred vehicle of choice at the All-Star Game?

Give the goalie with the most saves something, too.

I genuinely believe we can make the All-Star Game’s first night of festivities far more entertaining to the fans, considerably more challenging to the players, and far more viewable to the TV audience.

And one more thing … tell Versus to get rid of that side camera that rides back and forth across the top of the glass. “Rail cam” is a huge distraction.

I look from the press box to the ice and “Rail cam” is running across my sightlines like one of those mechanical rabbits at the dog tracks in Miami.

I go down to the press room to watch the third period on deadline and get closer to the dressing rooms, and there’s “Rail cam” running across my big screen TV three feet from my face at the press table.

Is it any wonder Bruce Garrioch and myself had severe dizzy spells after the game? We had to find a bar just to get our heads on straight, again.

You know, these All-Star Games can really mess with your health.

**

Anyone besides me and the rest of the media wondering why the 1999 Dallas Stars were honored at the All-Star Game for their Stanley Cup but Ken Hitchcock and his coaching staff was not? That’s because the coaches weren’t invited.

Now that’s not Texas hospitality, if you ask me.

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