More All Star Stuff
This’ll be the last one about the All Star Game for awhile, I promise…
Today over on Puck Daddy, Monsieur Wyshynski has a great breakdown of the latest All Star happenings, including confirmation from the league that the automated votes have in fact been removed – almost 20,000 from Kovalev alone, apparently.
Gee, maybe Semin picked up 6,000 automated votes, who knows.
Yet even with the adjusted totals, it looks like (barring a supreme act of ballot box-stuffing, which isn’t completely out of the question) we will in fact have a Habs vs. Red Wings starting lineup. So I have to ask, and please disregard the fact that I am a poorly closeted Habs fan on the side…what’s the matter with that?
It’s an exhibition game being held in the birthplace of the league’s most storied franchise, which happens to be celebrating its centennial year. The Wings are last year’s Stanley Cup Champs. It’s practically scripted that these two sides face off, if only for a few seconds.
Because as someone pointed out, it’s just the starters. Yes, they’re guaranteed a roster spot (unless they’re named Rory) and yes, for all of 30-45 seconds there will be a lot of red out there. After that? It’s anyone’s guess, and there are 14 other spots available on each team, to be filled by the league or the GMs or whoever selects the remaining roster.
Some might be concerned that the one per team rule will limit the Caps’ reps to Ovechkin or Semin or Green – but if you look at recent years, it’s not always the case. Last year Pittsburgh, Boston and Ottawa each sent three reps; Philadelphia, Atlanta and Tampa each sent two. Out west there were four reps from Detroit and Anaheim, and Calgary, Dallas and Vancouver each had two. That’s a lot of spots filled by not a lot of teams, right?
And yet they still managed to squeeze in one rep per team in each conference – something that doesn’t even happen every year.
Sure, people will inevitably get left out. That’s a given. But while it’s an honor and a privilege to be selected it’s doubtful that anyone not selected will be crying into their pillow about it. Plus there are injuries and guys who will choose to sit out – both of which happened last year.
That being said…as angry as Uncle Gary might be at Semin these days, do you think they’re going to leave the league’s first or second best scorer out? Does anyone think that Ovechkin is really going to be overlooked? What about Mike Green, who should have been there last year and trails only the Montreal juggernaut in this year’s voting? There’s too much talent for these guys not to be there, plain and simple.
Besides, think about this possibility: we could have a line of Ovechkin-Crosby-Semin…facing off against a line centered by Patrick Kane and shooting on Chris Osgood. There’s classic entertainment just waiting to be made here, and don’t think that the league doesn’t know it.
In the meantime, you have until January 2nd. Don’t sit around moping about those evil Habs fans and their gusto – do something about it! Launch a legal ballot-stuffing campaign of your own. Take a few minutes of spare time at work or between classes to go vote online, or put your unlimited texting plan to good use and text Capitals to 81812 over and over and over again.
Remember, that which works in the real world works here, too – you don’t get to use your voice to complain if you don’t use it to vote.
by texting capitals do you vote for green, semin, and Ovie all at once? i thought you had to text the player’s last name!
Comment by Meg — November 18, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
Yup, you can knock them all out at once by texting Capitals – per the Caps’ website.
(Of course I discovered this after I spent a fair bit of time texting individually on Sunday…but whatever
)
Comment by CapsChick — November 18, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
What’s wrong with it is that this is supposed to be a showcase of the top talent of the league, not a showcase of the hometown favorites. Regardless that these will only be the starters, that’s 5 out of 20 positions available for showcasing talent that will be taken up by Habs. Montreal does not make up 25% of the league, so why would they deserve 25% of the spots.
I feel that the powers that be totally botched this effort. First off, it has fallen to the level of American Idol in fan voting. If you are going to have selections based on fan voting, limit the number of times a person can vote per day to ONE, and put in the safeguards to prevent auto votes.
Second, the player selections were dubious at best, leaving out deserving players. As someone commented, the choices seem to be made back in August, before the team rosters were finalized.
But that’s just my humble opinion.
Comment by NS2NOVA — November 18, 2008 @ 6:15 pm
I’ve already been stuffing the ballot box ;D Even if I don’t agree with all the Habs starting, the ASG has always been like that and it’s never gonna change…just learn to live with it…
Comment by hockeyfan8 — November 18, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
What is the temperature for a web form to send txt to NHL.com go to http://www.james-gorman.com/index.php?option=com_poll&id=1:washington-web-2-sms-caps-vote and vote. If there is enough responce I will hack together a web form to take the info. I am not sure if I can do this for free or if it will cost incrementally or not so it may be a moot point.
Comment by James — November 18, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
It isn’t supposed to be a showcase of the top talent in the league, it’s a showcase of the most popular players in the league which sometimes could possibly be the same thing….
Comment by Jes — November 18, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
If the media get any weight in the decision, they will make sure that Ovie, Semin, Crosby, and Malkin are all there. My goodness what would the All Star game be without story lines like “Will Crosby pass to Semin?” “Did Crosby and Semin talk?” or “Will Ovie still try and hit Malkin even though they are on the same team?” repeated by every outlet.
Surely once the fan voting is done the NHL will also think about ratings. Besides, if the Montreal coach is not the All Star coach, the starters may end up with their shortest shift this season.
That being said, Rock the Vote Red people!
Comment by Kim — November 19, 2008 @ 11:52 am
As much as I’d love to see the Caps players at the top of this list… I just can’t get excited about it. I’m sure those selected will feel honored, but you know what? I just don’t care about the All-Star game. I’d rather give my boys the day off to do whatever they like (or at the least not have to play) and not risk the chance of getting hurt.
That’s just me of course. Go Caps!
Comment by Darren — November 19, 2008 @ 12:28 pm