This year fans allegedly elected 2009 All-Star Game players from only four squads including no skaters from the defending Cup Champions, the top three teams in either conference, or the top 20 scorers.
Not even the league’s most exciting player Alexander Ovechkin made the cut. That's right. This year's festivities features the feathery combination of the Chicago Ducks and Montreal Penguins.
No stranger to tampering with fan voting - lest we forget the league's undisputed roll in Rorygate denying dedicated fans the all-star debut of defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick - hometown favoritism runs rampant in this year's selections.Instead of rounding out the program with high performers from the first half of the season, hometown hacks like Alexei Kovalev are occupying spots belonging to Patricks Elias or Marleau and Mike Komisarek is keeping the offensively gifted Mike Green from the game.
Ironically, Canadiens defenceman Komisarek's mid-season production (1G, 4A) is akin to Rory Fitzpatrick's from his 2007 almost-all-star season (1G, 6A). With the benefit of hindsight, it appears Fitzpatrick's fatal flaw was collecting votes in a year when his home team wasn't hosting.
In the end, it doesn't really matter who cracks the lineup or how. It would just be nice for fans to have a say, whether the NHL agrees or not.
Love the addition of relevant blogs/podcasts. But it makes the helpful links difficult to find. Can you adjust them to the other side?
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