The NHL can’t seem to get it right.
Coming off the triumph of the outdoor game on New Year’s Day, the league announces its All-Star Game starters a few days later. And it was a joke.
Montreal fans proved to be the best ballot-box stuffers, electing four Canadiens to the starting lineup. I guess that’s not as bad as it could have been. At one point in the voting, Montreal players led at all six positions. At least Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh snuck in at the end. But Alex Ovechkin the reigning MVP and arguably the best player in the game was snubbed.
It wasn’t any better in the Western Conference where three Anaheim players and three from Chicago will start. I could understand having a few San Jose Sharks in there. They have the best record in hockey. And Calgary is having a fine year as well. Instead we get three players each from a pair of second-place teams.
And no one from the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings made it.
No Nicklas Lidstrom. No Pavel Datsyuk. No Henrik Zetterberg. No Marian Hossa.
That’s a farce.
The NHL needs to do something about the selection process. Perhaps take some of the power away from the fans and have the starters selected by a combination of fan, player and coach voting.