Kessel and is 24 goals aren't good enough for the All-Star Team. Credit: AP
Alexi Kovalev is going to be starting at wing for the Eastern Conference All-Star Team. Alexander Ovechkin will watch the opening faceoff from the bench.
Great job, NHL.
First, before the rant, the good news is that Zdeno Chara, Tim Thomas, and Marc Savard have been named to the Eastern Conference All Stars, and will head to Montreal.
But, the NHL dropped the ball on this one.
Thomas, who for much of the first quarter of the season led the NHL in both GAA and save percentage, wasn’t even on the ballot. But that’s logical, right? He only recorded the win for the Eastern Conference in last year’s game. At least he was named a reserve.
That was gaffe No. 1 for the league. Fan balloting has always baffled me, but putting no cap on fan votes? What a ridiculous move.
Montreal’s Mike Komisarek shouldn’t even be on the team, yet he’s a starter with around 1.3 million votes (His numbers — 1-2=3 line and is a +1).
Andrei Markov starting aside Komisarek at least makes sense. But any of the reserves could (or rather, should) start in place of Komisarek.
The fan balloting was made a mockery of. It needs to be done away with.
Why not have the coaches vote? It could be a real simply formula. There are 16 teams in each conference. Every coach votes on 12 forwards, six defensemen, and three goals for their own conference, and you can’t vote for any player on your team. So, the most votes a player could get is 15.
Then, the top-12 forwards, top-6 defensemen and top-3 goalies makeup the All-Star team. If you want to expand it, have every coach and every GM vote, making it 30 possible votes. Then, maybe have fans decide ties, if there are any.
The fifth-best team in the league has FOUR starters, and the best team in the league (as of this writing), the San Jose Sharks, have just two on the entire roster and NO starters. What a complete joke.
Phil Kessel, who is fourth in the entire NHL in scoring, is left off the roster. Kessel has 14 goals more than Kovalev, who is ranked 103rd in the NHL.
The fans don’t have to be involved to make the game more compelling.
