Kovacevic: How does Sid get left out of an All-Star Game? Hello?

BOSTON -- A few ticks after 4 p.m. on this Monday inside Warriors Ice Arena, the Bruins' practice facility, Mike Sullivan's whistle will blow.

And if I know the man like I think I do, a few ticks after that, his gaskets will begin blowing, too.

Look, there's no cause for continued fuss over the four-game losing streak these Penguins dragged through the NHL's All-Star break that formally concludes today, then gets buried for good with the game here tomorrow night against the Bruins at TD Garden. Most of what'd gone wrong, I'll keep insisting, was the result of flat-out fatigue: 16 games in 29 days, half of those games in the final 13 days alone. That's an insane workload, one that'd tire out even 20 Kris Letang types.

To their credit, neither Mike Sullivan nor the players complained. Not much, anyway. They'd find a way to mention it, somewhat parenthetically, and they openly acknowledged before splitting up for this break that it was, as John Marino gracefully worded it, "well-timed."

Well, time's up.

I don't have much to add on this subject for now, as I'll save that for after today's session. But I know this: That spirited, stubborn, in-your face intensity that the Penguins brought through their season-opening trip through Florida, then for the better part of the three months that followed ... there's no excuse for that to go missing another day.

It's not that these games are urgent, at least not in the playoff context with the Penguins currently 21 points ahead of the fifth-place Blue Jackets in the Metro. But they do come with urgency of a different kind, and that's to reestablish -- no re-entrench -- the Sullivan system. Meaning the whole 200-foot, give-us-the-puck-or-else approach that frustrates opponents to exasperation.

Yeah, it's a "demanding way to play," as Sidney Crosby spoke in Montreal a couple months ago, echoing a sentiment expressed by several other players, too. All in admiration, though. Never with apprehension. They don't just enjoy the points along that path, but also the process. The roster's filled with players who, by nature, are built for that style. Evan Rodrigues. Brock McGinn. Teddy Blueger. Even the stars, to a degree. Any team anywhere can adopt it for the playoffs. But the greatest advantage comes from performing that way by default.

It's still a hell of a hockey team. Just needs to climb all the way out of hibernation, beginning right about now.

• Want to end any friendly debate about the best line in hockey?

Try this: Ask any NHL coach which trio he'd send over the boards for a single, pivotal shift in a Game 7 overtime: Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog in Denver, or Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak here?

Guarantee at least 31 take the line here. I know I sure would.

• The Olympics in Beijing, which presumably are underway, have robbed us of world-class hockey on the men's side with the NHL's withdrawal. And that, in turn, has robbed us of the always fascinating experience of Sid taking Pastrnak's role on that same line. Sid, Marchand and Bergeron train together each offseason and, more relevant, have been connected in international tournaments in the past, with golden success.

It's no coincidence Marchand's been the most vocal of any player still ripping what basically became Gary Bettman's unilateral decision:

He's right. Players should've had a say, as this was a collectively bargained matter that they'd overwhelming supported.

In the same breath, I can also say that Bettman was right. As we're seeing with disputes already over there ...

... the malfeasance of the Chinese government was always going to be a bigger-than-life obstacle toward these Games going off smoothly. Much more than anything COVID-based.

Imagine if that Finnish player being locked in his room for 18 days after testing negative had been, oh, I don't know, Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho or Patrik Laine.

• The Russians will take gold in these Olympics, too, as they can load up their roster with KHL guys to knock off all the North American ECHL guys. And that'll will continue their streak of never having won a single Olympic gold in a true best-vs.-best tournament. Like, ever.

• Wait, so there was an NHL All-Star Game and Sid flat-out wasn't invited?

And this has been met with zero public pushback?

Someone help me out with this one, please. Because I don't get it. If it's purported to be an All-Star Game, and it's got Adam Pelech and a whole bunch of other players that casual fans wouldn't know from Adam, but it doesn't have the sport's generational talent and most recognizable face/brand ... man, that's exactly what one expect from the NHL, isn't it?

I don't care if Sid had offseason wrist surgery. I don't care that he got off to a slow start. I don't care to whichever extreme he'd produce in the first half of any regular season. With all due respect to up-and-comers in this category, only two active players on this planet transcend hockey: Sid and Alexander Ovechkin. And both should be invited for as long as they're lacing 'em up. And from there, both should be thanked profusely for participating.

Can't believe that even has to be typed.

Clowns. All of them.

• Don't misunderstand: It's great that Jake Guentzel and Tristan Jarry made it. Both were deserving by any criteria, as was most everyone there, including Pelech. But vapidity of omitting Sid is ... again, it's unsurprising.

• Think 'clowns' is too harsh?

OK, try to concoct a more appropriate pejorative for a commissioner who this week defended a decision to stick a major-league franchise in a 5,000-seat college facility in the desert, then claimed it'd make for a more profitable scenario than where it'd fought to be for two decades.

That's clown cars, clown shoes, clown everything.

• Remember when I wrote from Sunrise early this past fall that there isn't a more under-appreciated player on the planet than Jonathan Huberdeau?

Funny, but that's more true now than ever:

I'll bet there aren't a handful of non-fantasy hockey fans anywhere -- least of all in South Florida -- who'd know he's leading the league in scoring right now.

I know this: He'd get my Hart vote right now. Best player on the best team. Adjudged to be most valuable 'n' at.

• The rest of my midseason awards:

Vezina: Igor Shesterkin, Rangers
Norris: Cale Makar, Avalanche
Calder: Trevor Zegras, Ducks
Selke: Phillip Danault, Kings
Adams: Mike Sullivan, Penguins

• I'll reiterate that Panthers are the best team in the East, and I'll give the Hurricanes their due, as well. But I'll ominously add that there's only one contender in the conference with any significant cap space come the trade deadline, and that's the Rangers with a whopping $8,353,423 in wiggle room. Whatever they're missing, Chris Drury can still add. And then some.

• Did ESPN surreptitiously secure the NHL's TV rights simply to ensure hockey would never again be seen on standard TV?

If so, that's beyond brilliant. Dunks, dunks and more dunks for a full hour of 'SportsCenter.'

• What beats a dunk?

Meet the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, young Connor Bedard of the WHL's Regina Pats and, as of yesterday, author of possibly the prettiest goal scored this year at any level of the sport:

These between-the-legs moves and the like are nothing but good for the game, from a pure entertainment standpoint. But when they're vital to the actual execution of the goal, as this was, we're in a different world.

Hope the kid likes his wings Buffalo-style.

• I'll cover the practice today, then follow-up with another piece leading into tomorrow's game.

Thanks for reading, as always.