NHL All-Star Game 2012: The Fans Were Wrong in Their Voting

For the past few years, the NHL All-Star Game has become a trivial event. It not longer has the appeal it once had. The game is a lot different than it was in the '80s and '90s. During that time period the game meant something.

Before the fantasy element of the draft was introduced, there were concepts like the East vs. the West and the North American Stars vs. the World Stars.

During this period you had true all-stars like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux skating on the same team and line for a few shifts. That was truly something worth watching. It was a time where the best of the best were on display for the masses.

As a die-hard hockey fan, I admit that I was embarrassed after looking at the results for the all-star starters. I was embarrassed because talented players were snubbed for no reason.

If you take a look at the fan ballot polls you find that the leaders are more fan favorites than they are all-stars. In this regard the ballot results show that the best players were not selected. Nothing against the Ottawa Senators, but having players like Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek finishing ahead of Claude Giroux and Phil Kessel is mind-boggling.

Giroux is an emerging superstar who has battled through injury and has been a very dominant player who really came out of nowhere.

If take a look at the word "all-star," it is pretty simple to understand. An all-star is a player who excels above all others. An all-star is a player who stands above the rest.These players often display talents that few others posses. This enables them to score a lot of goals, make smart players and dominant in all around play.

Players like Giroux, the Sedins, Stamkos and Kessel are having amazing years. They should be in the spotlight and limelight. They should have been named starters. They are the true all-stars. They have played hard night in and night out. 

You could argue that it is a semantical debate because the players listed above will still make the all-star team. However how can the NHL expect millions of fans to tune into a two hour game featuring home town favorites?

Odds are that the hometown crowd in Ottawa will fill the arena in droves. Odds are that thousands of all-star swag featuring Senators will be sold.However, the fans were wrong to vote for only their favorites. It is easy to vote for your favorite players because it is a natural response. However fans should try to put the game before their favorite players.

For example, what sense did it make for fans to give Sidney Crosby hundreds of thousands of votes considering he has barely played this season? Why should he get more votes to become an all-star over Steven Stamkos, the league's top goal scorer? How is it that a player like Matt Moulson who has had consecutive back to back solid seasons didn't even get listed on the ballot? 

This is because the all-star game is a popularity contest and it isn't about showcasing the league's best players.

The fact that good players are being snubbed  furthers the fact that the "all-star game" is dead.

If the NHL wants the fans to have their choice that is perfectly fine. If that is the case they should no longer call it an all-star game. The all-star weekend skills competition better fits the mold the NHL has created. It is a sequence of events that pit fan favorites is exciting competitions. Player X may not be an all around all-star but they could be the fastest skater or they could posses the league's hardest shot.

Don't create a concept where sub par players are being rewarded with the achievement of becoming an all-star. Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe can say with pride that they were an all-star multiple times. How can you then say a goalie like James Reimer is on their level? How can you say that a player like Reimer could have been a starting all-star if he garnered enough votes.

James Reimer is not an all-star. Goalies that finished under him like Pekka Rinne, Henrik Lundqvist, and Jimmy Howard are goalies worthy of being an all-star starter. No disrespect to Reimer, but a 7-4-4 record with a goals-against average of 3.01 is not even average.

Players should not be handed anything. If you are having a good year you should be rewarded with the title of all-star. Fans should not control the destiny and fate of the game because it happens to take place in their hometown.

The all-star game was an event that I loved as a kid but it no longer is worth watching in my opinion. If the system was corrected to feature the absolute best against the best, there would be some real interest in the game. 

However, as long as fans can pick and choose their favorite players regardless of their talent and success to represent the league and the sport as an all-star it will not be an event worth watching.

Tom Urtz, Jr. is an NHL featured columnist. For NHL news, updates and alerts about players: