This is an attempt to explain why all-star games should not be popularity contests.
In the east, the starting line up is:
Malkin (C) – Pittsburgh (makes sense – he is leading the scoring race)
Crosby (C) – Pittsburgh (um..Crosby is not a left winger, though he is tied for 2nd in scoring…with Ovechkin, who is a LW)
Kovalev (R) – Montreal (at 31 points, he has half the number of Malkin and 10 less than Phil Kessel of Boston, the top RW in the east)
Markov (D) – Montreal (a good choice)
Komisarek (D) – Montreal (I would’ve picked Chara, who is one key explanation for Ottawa and Boston’s switcharoo, or Streit, who leads D-men in pts)
Price (G) – Montreal (5th in the east in SV%, 4th in wins, 4th in GAA, 1st in votes…Tim Taylor or Steve Mason probably should get this honour)
I sense a team theme.
In the west:
Patrick Kane (R) – Chicago (this is fine, really a toss between Kane and Iginla)
Jonathan Toews (C) – Chicago (Getzlaf, Datsyuk, Thornton, Marleau, Zetterberg, M Koivu, H Sedin, Langkow, Richards, and Ribeiro all have more points)
Ryan Getzlaf (C) – Anaheim (does the NHL hate left-wingers or something? One of the spots should go to Daniel Sedin or Shane Doan)
Brian Campbell (D) – Chicago (Boyle and/or Rafalski?, although I do like Campbell)
Scott Niedermayer (D) – Anaheim (Boyle, Rafalski, Souray, Pronger, Lidstrom, Blake, Phaneuf, Jovanovski????)
J-S Giguere (G) – Anaheim (9th in the west in SV%, 10th in wins, 16th in GAA, and fighting for his spot as #1 in Anaheim…Kiprusoff, Nabokov, Backstrom, or Hiller all would’ve been a better choice)
I sense another team theme.
My closing argument against allowing the fans to vote for the all-star line-up is this:
With a bonus pic:
Blevkog 
As you know, I am an ardent hockey fan, but I have never, not even as a child, cared one little bit about the all-star game. It is, and always has been, less a showcase of talent than public wanking and a quick cash-in. So, while I agree with you that fan ballots is no way to pick the League’s best (remember Vote for Rory?), I can’t even give enough of a damn to yawn.
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I knew there was a campaign a couple of years ago that had put the whole fan voting thing in perspective . It’s ironic that you’ve got a picture of Don Cherry there, since his views on the All-Star Game are similar to Kev’s – I believe he’s referred to it as ‘a game of floaters’…
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I couldn’t resist posting that suit. Who could?
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A flame of goaters.
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