NHL All-Star Game: FAIL!

Let's start with the obvious as to why the 2009 NHL All-Star Game is a fraud this year yet again:

Four Canadiens and two Penguins are the All-Star starters for the Eastern Conference.

Three Blackhawks and three Ducks are the All-Star starters for the Western Conference.

Here's the link to the factual starters and reserves.

All are products of overzealous (and in Montreal's case slightly illegal) voting promotions from each club because the fan votes count more than anything else, like...well...talent, or actual statistics.

This isn't the 1980's, where in a 21-team league a coach can select his top players right off the bat because they were the cream of the crop in the entire NHL. There's no Glen Sather to step in an select Gretzky, Kurri, Coffey, Messier and Fuhr deservedly before anyone else.

This also isn't major-league baseball, where the voter fraud in cities like Cincinnati, St. Louis and the Bronx have rendered fan selection for All-Star starters a complete joke for over two decades.

In reality, the East starters should look something like this:
Left Wing: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington
Center: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh (league leader in points)
Right Wing: Jeff Carter, Philadelphia Flyers
Defense: Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Defense: Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens (in a down year for healthy, honor-worthy D)
Goaltending: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Sidney Crosby doesn't belong anywhere NEAR Bell Centre, and I don't care how vital he is to the league's success. He's having a down year so far below even what Mario Lemieux had in his worst year - and Crosby doesn't have an excuse like chronic back pain or cancer to justify his numbers. Neither does Alex Kovalev. Especially because I'm sure like me, there are a million Montrealers who forget that he's actually the captain.

If fans cared a bit more and came back sooner to the new Garden, Marc Savard would have been a lot higher on the list as a reserve. I'll agree with Thomas Vanek, but Zach Parise? No Devil forward should be included on the list, even if he does lead the team in goals.

On defense, it is a REAL lean year with selections. I suppose Sergei Gonchar would have gotten 750,000 votes if he'd have played in at least five games. Mike Komisarek and Mark Streit, though? I call bullshit. Tomas Kaberle is one step away from being sent to the Marlies, which leaves Chara and Jay Bouwmeester as the only legit selections I see on the backline.

In the net, I'd really go Lundie one, Thomas two and Price three. King Henrik is really needed on Broadway because the Rangers don't score - something Thomas doesn't have to worry about. Again, ballot stuffing baurons in Mount Royal really fouled this one up good by putting Price (last seen in the playoffs on the bench because of fatal mistakes) as the lead guy.

And the West starters should look like this:
Left Wing: Henrik Lundqvist, Detroit Red Wings (Remember him?)
Center: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Right Wing: Brad Boyes, St. Louis Blues (let the discussion begin)
Defense: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Defense: Dan Boyle, San Jose Sharks
Goaltending: Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks/Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild (tie because they're both so damn good)

The second point as to why the All-Star Game is a fraud is because of the ridiculous insistence on broadcasting the game on Versus instead of NBC.

I know this year, NBC is not broadcasting any weekend games until the Super Bowl is over (a move that should not be made because NBC could have easily gone to Saturday games before 4 pm as a way to not compete with the NFL playoffs), but why not make this the second showpiece event for 2009?

The NFL will be at its off-week between the conference title games and Supe XLIII, with nothing but some less-than-desirable NBA games plus college basketball on the tube.

Plus, this year's Winter Classic at Wrigley Field had higher ratings (more scoring) and better appeal than last year's, why not keep up the momentum and put the game back on a national network? And...it's not like they have the almost-defunct Arena Football league contract anymore.

It's so counterintuitive and beyond ridiculous for anyone around the game to complain about how hockey has to compete with this, that and the other in America, then have its national network contract go 31 days between broadcasts halfway through the season.

It's even more so when the best of the best play in a showcase game which only slightly more than 2 million homes in North America can see anyway. I guess we hardcore fans with a memory longer than one year at a time should be grateful it's not being played on a Wednesday night.