Hockey Superstars, 2006-2007

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Now that the NHL lockout over, Romanuk’s 19th edition of his annual
Hockey Superstars will again attract young hockey fans with its chatty
prose and glossy, full-colour mini-posters of the league’s
“superstars.” Alphabetically arranged from Daniel Alfredsson to Joe
Thornton, with Jarome Iginla appearing on the cover, Romanuk’s 17
selections include seven centres, six wingers, two goalies, and two
defencemen. Since the book’s compilation, two players have assumed
roles with new teams, a situation that leaves Cris Pronger, now an
Anaheim Duck, wearing last season’s Oilers jersey, and Dominik Hasek,
presently a Detroit goaltender, being pictured as an Ottawa Senator.
Players from 13 of the 30 NHL teams are represented with the Northeast
and Southeast Divisions accounting for almost half of the book’s
players, the remainder being distributed almost equally among the
remaining four divisions. Don Cherry might be up in arms about the lack
of “good Canadian boys,” as more than half of the players are
foreign born, while two Canadian teams (the Canucks and Oilers) are shut
out of player selection.

This edition essentially maintains the last edition’s format, with
the two-column text facing each player’s full-colour action shot. To
the text about each player, Romanuk adds “Did You Know?” and
“Hockey Memory” boxes. Beneath each player’s picture, another box
presents the player’s 2005–2006 stats, draft details, date and place
of birth, position, shooting or catching handedness, plus height and
weight. Like earlier editions, the poster pages are sandwiched between
two matte-paper sections that invite readers’ participation through
recording such things as their favourite team’s or players’ seasonal
statistics. Recommended.