Flyers’ Scott Hartnell named to NHL all-star team

SUNRISE, Fla. - When Flyers left winger Scott Hartnell received a text from Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's disciplinary guru, he figured he may have done something that would cause him to be punished.

"He said, 'Please call me,' and I was trying to think back to the last game and if maybe I did something stupid," Hartnell said with a laugh before Tuesday's game in Florida.

Instead, Hartnell was told he had been added to the all-star team.

At first, Hartnell kidded his teammates and his father, telling them he was going to have a disciplinary hearing. "But I couldn't keep the smile off my face," he said. "I said, 'No. I'm going to Ottawa.' "

Hartnell, named to replace Chicago's injured Jonathan Toews, will appear in the first All-Star Game of his 11-year career.

"It's pretty cool, especially with my dad being here," Hartnell said.

His father, Bill, was among 11 of the Flyers' fathers in South Florida as part of a trip arranged by the team.

Hartnell entered Tuesday tied for sixth in the NHL with 25 goals and tops in the league with 13 power-play goals.

Hartnell, 29, will join teammates Claude Giroux and Kimmo Timonen in Sunday's All-Star Game in Ottawa. Rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read will compete in the all-star skills competition Saturday.

The captains will draft the teams Thursday.

"I'd rather play against him, I think," Giroux quipped. "Make sure he keeps his head up."

Hartnell, who entered Tuesday with 210 career goals, thinks of himself as "a good hockey player. I've played a long time. You go to the All-Star Game and the names that have been there in the past - Gretzky and Lemieux, Jagr, Timonen, Yzerman . . .. And to think of yourself in the same company is a little far-fetched at times."

Not to his coach, Peter Laviolette.

"It's well-deserved; not only has he had a great year this year, but he's been a terrific hockey player in the league for X-amount of years," Laviolette said.

In addition to Hartnell's father, the trip included the fathers of Matt Carle, Sergei Bobrovsky, Brayden Schenn, Jody Shelley, Giroux, Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, Marc-Andre Bourdon, Max Talbot, and Danny Briere.

Bill Hartnell said he has been on 10 father-son trips with Scott during his NHL career.

"You can look at everyone as unique," said Bill Hartnell, a retired teacher/principal who lives in Alberta for part of the year and in Phoenix during the winter. He said that the trip allows him to talk to his son about "neat parts of his life and how things are going" and that it gives them "quality time" together.

"Even when he's at home, there's always a few more people around, and it's not very often we sit down for an hour one-on-one," he said, "so this is good that way."

The Flyers have three all-stars for the first time since 1999-2000, when four were selected: Eric Desjardins, John LeClair, Eric Lindros, and Mark Recchi. . . . With the all-star break, the Flyers don't play until Tuesday against visiting Winnipeg, starting a stretch in which they play eight of their next 10 at home.