The Mainstream Media Agrees: NHL All-Star Voting is Ridiculous

"The shame of it all is that the NHL is contributing to this embarrassment...This charade in the East must be stopped. And soon." - The Montreal Gazette, November 29th

"The good news is that the Montreal Canadiens no longer hold down all six starting spots for this year's NHL All-Star game. The bad news is that now Pittsburgh fans are making an equal, if not worse, farce of the voting." - The National Post, December 16th

"Injured Pens goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been sidelined for a month, and injured defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, who have yet to play this season, have now moved up in the results to challenge Canadiens at those positions as well." - Slap Shot blog at the New York Times, December 14th

"The NHL should be absolutely ashamed of itself for promoting the fact that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is 'threatening to break Jaromir Jagr's all-time record for the most votes received in one year of NHL All-Star fan balloting'...the NHL needs to admit in these all-star game press releases that the vote totals have been inflated this year; either through illegal means that have since been "corrected" or through new technologies that allow fans to vote for an entire block of players with one cell phone text message." - Puck Daddy blog at Yahoo! Sports, December 16th

The All-Star Game, and the voting issues that have surrounded it, have become a huge joke.

Whether it be because of what players were included on the ballot (Gonchar and Whitney on and Tim Thomas off), or the Canadiens' fans JavaScript voting, or the Penguins organization organizing text voting, it's a joke.

For the record, however, mass text voting (which is how the Penguins' players moved up the ranks) is not against the rules. It is ridiculous that Gonchar and Whitney benefit however, since they won't be able to play. It also seems kind of petty on behalf of Penguins management.

Regardless of who you ask, the NHL's response to this sham voting is pathetic. They have chosen to issue press releases praising the fans for their "work" rather than come up with any sort of strategy that would legitimize this joke of a game.

The boycott continues.