Six Detroit Red Wings on All-Star ballot is not enough

November 4, 7:53 PMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Detroit Red Wings Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Six Detroit Red Wings players were named to the XM/NHL All-Star ballot, released by the league today. The All-Star game will be hosted by Montreal on January 25, and fan balloting begins on November 12.

This is not enough.

There is no argument about the inclusion of goaltender Chris Osgood, defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski or forwards, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Marian Hossa. In fact, during the Stanley Cup playoffs last season an argument could have been made for five of the six players to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

Johan Franzen – Since March 2 last season Franzen has scored an incredible 32 goals in his last 40 games played. This includes his playoff leading 13 goals (tied with teammate Henrik Zetterberg), despite missing six games. Thirteen of those goals were game winners. That translates to 66 goals over the course of a full 82-game schedule, or one better than Alexander Ovechkin’s league leading 65 goals last season.

Tomas Holmstrom – Holmstrom scored 40 points in just 58 games last season, a 57-point pace if healthy for all 82 games. And he has started this season with six goals and four assists in the first 12 games of this season, a 68-point pace over the course of a full season.

Niklas Kronwall – Kronwall led all defenseman in scoring during last year’s playoffs with 15 points and was +16 in 22 games. This season he has six points in 12 games and is +2 while logging more than 23 minutes a game.

There are 104 players on the ballot, 52 from each Conference and at least two players from each team. For a complete list of players on the ballot go to http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=390492

There are nine goaltenders from the Western Conference to select from, and realistically that could be reduced to six, if there weren’t two players from each team on the ballot.

Oddly enough there are only 12 defensemen on the ballot for eight spots, and when you factor in injuries, and no-shows, it is possible that the league may have to add somebody to the roster that isn’t even listed on the ballot.

There are 30 forwards to choose from. Dallas, who ranks 10th in goals per game in the Western Conference, leads the way four players, while Colorado who ranks seventh and St. Louis who ranks ninth have as many nominated players as the Wings who lead the Conference in goals per game.

Certainly they are all good players, but this is the All-Star Game and it’s about goal scoring.  So why not reward the players from the highest scoring teams with a higher number of nominations?

Fans around the world can vote online between November 12 and January 2 via interactive English and French ballots at Vote.NHL.com. and in a first for all major professional sports leagues, the NHL will provide real-time All-Star fan balloting results online at NHL.com. Fans will be able to vote as often as they like to select the starting lineups.