Blue Jackets Screwed Again

I'm not sure what it's going to take for the Columbus Blue Jackets to get a little respect in this league. At this point I wonder if winning the Stanley Cup would do it.

Rick Nash, for the second straight year, was snubbed as an All-Star MVP. He scored three goals, two of the spectacular variety, and more than any other player in the game.

Somehow Eric Staal, who had two goals (one a tap in) and an assist (a second assist mind you), walked away with the hardware.

That's not even mentioning the two All-Star records Nash broke. Nash's first goal set the record for the fastest goal ever scored and he also became the first All-Star in history to score two or more goals in back to back years.

Or the fact that Nash single-handily got the West back into this game after they fell down 5-1 after the first period.

Some say it was because Staal was on the East, which was the winning team. I say try again. The last four MVPs were from the losing team. It was unfortunate ending to what really was a fun, probably the best, All-Star game I've ever watched.

At this point Jackets fans shouldn't be surprised by the snub after Colin Campbell failed to select Pascal Leclaire—who leads the league in shutouts and save percentage, is second in GAA and is 10th in wins—was left out of the game. Not to mention was voted second by the fans.

Here was Campbell's explanation for Leclaire's snub from Mike Arace's blog:

1. “We like to try to get a representative from each team.” (Admirable, but not fair in every case.)

2. “The Stanley Cup champions should be well represented.” (Last year, the Carolina Hurricanes had two representatives—Eric Staal and Justin Williams—and Williams was a late add. This year, the Anaheim Ducks have four, including late addition Scott Niedermayer, who has played 19 games since coming out of retirement. So, which year did the league get it right?)

3. “We like to make sure teams that are doing well this year are well represented.” (Detroit has three representatives—all of them starters—one of them, goaltender Chris Osgood, who plays in a platoon.)

4. “For people who come to the games and pay a lot of money for tickets and travel, they want to see true, year-in, year-out All-Stars here.” (I can only take this to mean that Leclaire is not a true All-Star, and Manny Legace is).

“You look at Leclaire,” Campbell said, “and he is having a career year. Hopefully, he continues like that into other years.”

I say again: Leclaire ranks first in shutouts and save percentage and second in goals against average, and he got the second-most votes among goalies in the Western Conference, and the leading vote getter begged out. Doesn’t the league look bad for such an egregious slight?

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