The 2012 NHL All-Star Game is in the books, and it's time to resume (well, Tuesday it's time) a season that is fast approaching its stretch run. If you took the weekend off from the NHL, here is the All-Star Game summary and roster sheet, and here's a recap of one team beating another team.

Here is our site's chats for the game itself and Saturday's skills competition. In the actual game, the Islanders star Milbury is no longer empowered to trade acquitted himself well, as John Tavares picked up a goal and an assist and appeared to have fun out there. Jason Spezza did some blog posts for nhl.com from the hometown perspective, and his final one summed up the weekend well.

I have to say I don't often dwell on all of the still-lingering damage Mike Milbury did to this franchise, but seeing some traded-away stars this weekend (not to mention the ex-Isle stars who weren't there) did put me in a "what if?" funk.

Oh well, to the here and now: We had midseason roundtables part 1 and part 2 last week, to follow-up on the 1st-half report cards. Below are links and videos to catch you up and get you ready for the season's final less-than-half-but-more-than-third.

Islanders Links

• Matt Martin has always been one suave dude.
• Newsday on why John Tavares is wonderful and should be hugged and such.
• Pretty Good Idiot had a pretty fantastic and hardly idiotic FanPost on that very topic.
• Gary Bettman says Long Island deserves a new building and figures something will be worked out. /doesn't hold breathe
• Keith and Mark drafted their own fantasy teams from the All-Star pool ... and Torgo sim'd them with the kind of OCD-like tendency that drives a site. Here's parts 3 and 4.
• The Islanders' skating coach in 1977 appeared on "To Tell The Truth" game show. Just ... wow. Silver-medalist Barbara Williams. It was the accent that tipped me off to the right answer, but ... Dude! Nipsy Russell!

1981 Islanders Chevy Commercial

My family owned a couple of Chevettes, so suddenly I feel closer to Butch Goring and the gang. (No really, how could you endorse those clunkers?) You can tell from this and the other link that Keith has been digging through the ancient clips:

NHL Scuttlebutt

• So there's some real or implied drama with Sidney Crosby.
• On the Forecheck discusses the Ryan Suter "not gonna sign" announcement. I don't see this ending well.
• Taking playoff probabilities to a whole 'nother Fenwicky level.
• This would be your periodic warning that going all-in on UFA contracts carries some serious risk.
• So there: An illustrated guide to NHL All-Star Game MVPs and their accomplishments | Puck Daddy
• Change the standings! A great, in-depth analysis of why the NHL's current point system rather stinks.
• In which the Oilers rebuild is compared to Don Waddell's Thrashers.

All-Star Game Highlights

Both of John Tavares' points came from behind-the-net plays. The first, a goal, came when he picked up an easy rebound after feeding Jason Pominville in front. After the first period he was put on a line with hometowners Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek, and his second point (about 5:00 in the above video) came on a pretty change-of-direction feed behind the net to Michalek, who had plenty of net to shoot at.

As you can see from the highlights, it was your typical three-quarter speed (and that's being generous) All-Star Game. I get the no checking part, but I could stand to see players use the accelerator just a little bit more. We know they have great hands and can use them at goof-off practice speed -- hell, the NHL shows us that every time a game is undecided after overtime -- but a little flash of acceleration, which separates them from AHLers, might make the display a little more enticing.

Oh well, it's just the All-Star Game. Mic the players up and take what you get.