All-Star Games are fun to watch, but the way the teams are created is not that great...I don't have any suggestions but I have complaints.
Online Ballot Stuffing:
Letting fans vote for All-Star teams is the worst idea in the history of sports. in the NBA, players like Yao Ming finish 1st in voting despite being injured because Millions of Chinese people go online every second and vote. The same thing happened with Japanese baseball fans when Ichiro led the MLB vote getting in 2001.
In the NHL you can vote 30 times on your computer, 30 times on your phone app, and 30 times in text messages. That doesn't even include voting on your 2nd computer, your work computer, and 30 computers at the library. Why are you always allowed to vote more than 1 time. Insanity.
Are there any nationalities that benefit from ballot stuffing in the NHL?
Start Voting After Zero Games:
The NHL released their 2012 all-star ballot on November 10th. At that point in time the Caps had played only 13 games. Is 15% of the season enough to know who is an all-star? Nope. This keeps people off the ballot who have surprise seasons and voters are more likely to click on a player rather than writing one in. Example: Mike Green is on the ballot, but injured making unlisted Wideman is the highest scoring defender so far this year.
I'm Head Of The Class, I'm Popular:
Often, injured or under performing out of prime popular players like Shaq get voted in while rising stars that actually perform well during the season are overlooked. The result is a popularity contest and an all-star game filled with the "coolest kids in the school". The NBA is the most guilty of this, but I see Sidney Crosby on the ballot and he hasn't even played a game in forever, and he will be voted in.
I'm An All Star! But I Really Don't Care:
The #1 person that comes to mind considering skipping all star games is Derek Jeter. This year he accomplished an amazing and historic feat, getting his 3,000th career hit. A few days later Jeter upset baseball fans by deciding to skip the all star game. This leads to games where people have never even heard of some of the replacements because they are like 5th tier replacements.
The NHL has a 1 game suspension for healthy players skipping the game, which is the opposite of baseball where Bud Selig said he was super proud of Jeter, and didn't care that he was skipping the game. Win for the NHL.
Gilbert Arenas & Cheating Your Way To An All-Star Team:
Somewhere around 2005, Gilbert Arenas really wanted to be in the All-Star game. He knew he wasn't one of the most popular players in the league yet, so (according to him) he went out, traded some swag for an entire box of all star ballots, and voted for himself on every single one (according to him 50,000 times, which must be an exaggeration). The tactic didn't work.
A few years later in 2007 Gilbert decided that he was going to "buy" his way into some votes. At Wizards games if you filled out 50 ballots for Gilbert Arenas, you would get one of those Lance Armstrong style Wizards bracelets. If you filled out 250, you get a free Gilbert jersey. The tactic made everyone happy because I had 4 new jerseys, Gilbert had 1,000 new votes, and Gil was voted as a starter to the All Star team.
Any Gilbert Arenas' in the NHL?
