Yes, the starting players are silly. There should absolutely not be 4 Habs. Markov and Price both deserve it. Kovalev and Komisarek don’t. More on Kovalev below.

There are 2 buts, however.

1- This is the all-star game. Who gives a hoot? It’s an exhibition of skill that means nothing whatsoever…and to that end, Kovalev has oodles of skill. Again, I’m not saying he should start but he won’t *look* out of place when the puck drops.

2- Whenever something is put to a popular vote, stupidities occur. The Rory Fitzpatrick campaign? Dick Duff in the hall of fame? Ron Santo NOT in the baseball hall of fame? Dubya? Fans and media alike make dumb decisions on things MUCH more important than the all-star game.

Electronic voting will lead to ballot stuffing. In a city like Montreal where the Canadiens are the #1 religion, you can bet people will do what it takes to get their players in, if only to give the rest of the league the bird. Why do people do that? Because they can. It’s not right, it’s not fair to guys who deserve to be on the ice when the puck drops, but c’est la vie.

This should serve as a wake-up call to anyone who runs popular votes to find new ways to make them secure and honest. I haven’t voted for the all-star game (seriously, I haven’t, and never have). This is a useless game and the system should be fixed before something meaningful is impacted by a crazed fans (remember, “fans” is the abbreviated word for “fanatics”).

As for the juniors, have we had a Stanley Cup final in the past 10 years that has been as exciting as any of the past WJHCs from the same time frame? The games vs the U.S. and Russia were both heart stoppers that had people on the edge of their seats throughout the game. I didn’t think the Russia-Canada game could top the U.S. game, but it did.

Here’s hoping the gold medal final can top that (with a win by the team in red of course!)

-Kyle
twitter.com/kyleroussel