The NHL has been allowing fans to vote for the captains of the NHL All-Star Game in January, a system they ran to choose the starters in previous All-Star games.
Since every player must make themselves available for the All-Star game and players who dodge it receive game suspensions, the National Hockey League always makes it so every player is eligible for the fan vote. By having every player available for an online fan vote, NHL fans have made it a game to them.
A few years back, NHL fans decided to try and get Rory Fitzpatrick, journeyman defenceman of the Vancouver Canucks, into the 2007 All-Star Game as a starter. Fitzpatrick finished third in Western Conference defenceman voting with 550,177 votes, more votes than Chris Pronger and only 22,892 votes shy of second place Niklas Lidstrom. Slate even questioned the NHL’s final results, calling it “Rorygate.”
This year, two campaigns have emerged in trying to push both John Scott of the Arizona Coyotes and Rob Scuderi of the Pittsburgh Penguins to be voted in as captains. Scott has been openly against the voting, saying he knew it was a joke and didn’t want his name in the headlines this way (I guess he’d prefer to be in the headlines by punching people in the face? I digress) and made it clear he definitely did not want to be voted into the All-Star Game. He currently sits first in the voting. The Scuderi campaign, much smaller in interest, is with a lot of vitriol from Penguins fans who want him off the team. Scuderi currently sits 32nd in voting, ahead of fellow Penguin Phil Kessel, with fans openly calling it a troll.
Help pull off the best troll ever and vote Rob #Scuderi into the All-Star Game! #ScuderiASG
— Pittsburgh Boy (@PittsburghBoy82) December 3, 2015
This is different to Scott, who while some have said it’s to put a goon in the vote, others have expressed adoration for Scott and his charity work, feeling this could be a good way to praise an unsung hero on the ice.
The truth is that this is NHL fans on the internet’s way of being petulant children about a fan appreciation weekend that the National Hockey League runs for profit. The change to a three-on-three format is all about creating more excitement and goals, and running a fan vote is to create excitement for everyone that their favourite players might be recognized as All-Stars. It’s still something brought up when a player is in contention for the Hockey Hall of Fame, and players show a lot of pride in the title. I’m not saying we should respect the All-Star game as some holy institution, but if you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Fan votes that embarrass players isn’t the way to go about it.
So how can the National Hockey League fix this? It’s pretty simple. If the NHL All-Star Game is now running a three-on-three mini-tournament, the fan voting can only be for the top three scorers of every team with at least 15 games played. This prevents plugs from being voted for. If someone misses the mark, oh well. Them the breaks. Get more points early in the season.
Of course, this isn’t the only fix the NHL should consider. The National Hockey League and its fans have made it very clear that the All-Star game is only for offence. When Montreal Canadiens fans voted in Mike Komisarek in 2009, the decision was criticized by many. Being a defensive-minded defenceman could not be considered all-star material. If that’s the case, why do we invite the best goaltenders to this? Nobody wants to see defence, so let’s stop inviting the goalies. Even when Carey Price made his best effort to do something exciting as a goalie, nobody wants goalies shutting the doors down. We have an epidemic of people complaining about the lack of goals instead of ever being impressed by what goaltenders can do today, so let’s make sure the All-Star game is all about offence. We can always invite some ECHL goaltenders instead. This also ensures nobody has to freak out about their starting goaltender getting hurt at the game, which once happened to Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders.
Do you really want to get crazy on how we can fix the All-Star Game? Here’s my proposal. Sunday, January 31st, is the All-Star Game with Saturday, January 30th being the skills competition. Teams play their last game on Wednesday, January 27th. Why not on Thursday or Friday, teams run their own skills competition/all-star game for their local fans to decide who goes to the All-Star game? Every city in the league will get extra revenue from fans showing up to see their own superstars play and we get to see who has the best skills out of each. This way, the player that goes to the All-Star skills competition on the Saturday and plays on Sunday are the very best of their team. If it ends up that a John Scott is the fastest skater with the best shot and is MVP of his All-Star team game, hey, that’s what ended up happening. The fans might lose interactivity, but they at least get to see who is the best from their clubs before seeing if their team representative is the best in the league. You could also invite extra players for the skills competitions based on their skating and shooting scores.
The All-Star game is about the fans, but that doesn’t mean the fans should have 100% control over the decisions made for players who strive to be all-stars in their careers. Let the John Scott’s of the world use the All-Star game as a vacation for their knuckles and bring only the best of each team.
