Let me start by saying that of the Penguins selected, I probably hate Crosby the most but he also happens to be about the only one of the four--FOUR--of them (the other three being Malkin, Letang and Fleury) that deserves to be an All-Star starter this year.

So what the hell happened here? Malkin is a whopping thirty-eighth in the league for points. Thirty-eighth! And he's a starter! Letang, hilariously enough, is immediately behind him at 39. To put it into perspective, the closest Wing to Malkin/Letang points-wise is Johan Franzen. I like Mule and all, but is he really having an All-Star year? Fuck no. Malkin has even less of a case considering the numbers he usually puts up.

In Letang's case, I'll grant that he has a beastly plus-minus, but remember last year when everyone was raving about how great Mike Green was with his world-eating stats? Where is he now? Oh, that's him down there at #30... among defensemen. Letang being +20 right now probably has more to do with Crosby than Letang, just like how Lidstrom being even has more to do with the rest of the team than it does with Lidstrom.

Don't get me started on Fleury: before last year's Final, he was probably the worst goaltender to have ever won a Stanley Cup. I'll grant that he's put up reasonable numbers this year (particularly in GAA) but there's still at least ten goaltenders I'd rather have between the pipes in any given game. Where is Tim Thomas? Or Ondrej Pavelec?

Memo to Pens fans: All-Star ballots are meant to reflect who the best players are, not your favorites. I love the Red Wings' roster this year, but as singular entities only a few of them are really All-Stars in any given year. You [redacted] homers ruined the All-Star voting by not being able to see past your own noses. Lrn2hockey.