Eastern All-Star Voting: No surprises here
To be honest, I haven’t really been giving the NHL All-Star ballot a lot of thought. All-Star weekend seems pretty far off (and as always, rather insignificant), and while hockey is always Number One in my heart, I’ve been enjoying the CFL playoffs (I still crack up when I hear the phrase “The Banjo Bowl”). This is also the time of year I start watching the NFL with one eye, wondering if the Pats are really going to pull it off and if the Dolphins will win a game this season.
But thank goodness not everyone is distracted as I am. NHL.com has a story on Sidney Crosby leading the balloting, but Sportsnet.ca is covering it a little differently (gotta find that Canadian angle, or is that Canadien angle?). Apparently Andrei Markov is leading the eastern defensemen in voting.
In any case, I have say I haven’t really been following Markov much. I still remember his rookie year when he played here. He was on the point on the power play, and he couldn’t hit the net to save his life. It was so comical, even the home fans were yelling “hit the net” every time he teed up. That’s sorta stuck with me.
The rest of the numbers are interesting: Crosby obviously leads all forwards, with Daniel Alfredsson a distance second, followed by Daniel Briere and Vincent Lecavalier. Henrik Lundqvist leads all eastern goalies, then Mr. 500 Martin Brodeur, Martin Biron and Cristobal Huet.
Mike Richards of the Flyers, Alex Kovalev of the Canadiens and Nik Antropov of the Leafs have all received significant write-in votes, not enough to make the team, but enough that all three are beating the Lightning’s Brad Richards. Mike Richards is only a thousand votes behind Jason Spezza!
Maybe the western voting will bring a few more surprising, considering so many of the expected powerhouse teams are faltering, and the usual basement dwellers are soaring.
Sidney Crosby, Andrei Markov, Daniel Alfredsson, Daniel Briere, Vincent Lecavalier, Henrik Lundqvist, Martin Brodeur, Martin Biron, Cristobal Huet, Mike Richards, Alex Kovalev, Nik Antropov, Brad Richards, Jason Spezza
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