pudge's Journal: NHL All-Star Voting

No, I have had nothing to do with this.

Backstory: Rory Fitzpatrick is a somewhat sub-par, but not terrible, defenseman who plays for the Vancouver Canucks. For whatever reason, there has been a massive write-in campaign to get him elected to the All-Star game, and he is second in voting for the Western Conference.

I've heard lots of people complain about it, trying to find out what can be done about it. But the answer about what can be done is simple: improve the All-Star voting so it is not stupid.

The reason I screwed around with MLB All-Star voting a bunch of years ago is because the system was so flawed. It lacked integrity. You could submit hundreds of paper ballots, but only a couple dozen online? And with no good security measures to prevent it (they've since improved)? It was lame, so I showed it to be lame.

NHL voting is far worse. First, they have some of the same problems, but to compound the problem, only a handful of players are even on the ballot in the first place. The Boston Bruins have only two players on the entire ballot, and one of them is not even Glen Murray, one of the top goal-scorers in the league over the past several years.

The problem is respect. No one respects the NHL All-Star voting process. It's stupid, and no one cares, so they screw with it. That is a fixable problem, of course, but it is not about changing the process to try to prevent this, or trying to market the thing to change attitudes, it's about making it so the All-Star voting is actually a good process that gets a result people can respect.

It's a novelty thing...

[TopShelf]

I'm surprised they'd open things up this badly, given that online voting has been around for a few years now. Although I'm not voting for Rory, it'll be a fun thing for him to make the All-Star game, bring a little extra publicity to the event, and hopefully they'll fix it going forward. The NHL could use just about any kind of positive buzz, and it's basically some harmless fun.

After all, the only one harmed by all of this is the 7th or 8th best Western Conference defenseman, who will miss going to the g

Re:

[pudge]

After all, the only one harmed by all of this is the 7th or 8th best Western Conference defenseman, who will miss going to the game.

But that person might have "selected to All-Star team" as an incentive in their contract. Of course, I think such incentives are stupid, but ...

So too could someone have "All-Star starter" as an incentive, and Rory would be a starter.

Market forces?

[polymath69]

Now, I won't pretend that I'm a sports fan at all, but...

If you believe in market forces, isn't a way already in place to determine the most popular players? They ought to be the ones that the market has determined are worth the most; the ones with the highest salaries. So just take the top N players on that basis, and you've found your all-stars.

Now, markets aren't perfect; but would that way be more flawed then the crazy way you seem to be saying they're doing it now?

Re:

[pudge]

Now, I won't pretend that I'm a sports fan at all, but...

If you believe in market forces, isn't a way already in placeto determine the most popular players? They ought to be the onesthat the market has determined are worth the most; the ones withthe highest salaries. So just take the top N players on thatbasis, and you've found your all-stars.

Now, markets aren't perfect; but would that way be moreflawed then the crazy way you seem to be saying they're doingit now?

Yes. :-)

First, it is not really about popularity. I don't necessarily want to see the players I like most, but the best players.

Second, salaries are not about who is best, for two reasons: a player might be having a great season and earn his way into the All-Star game even though he has a low salary (a rookie or something, or a player who just is finally breaking out), and sometimes worse players get more money regardless, because they are veterans, or free agents, etc. For example, I am "worth" more if

Thanks for the reminder!

[dexterpexter]

I cast my vote for my old fave Chris Pronger, who I only recently learned has been doing a bit of team-jumping. I can't believe he is a Duck.

The campaign to get that other gentleman onto the All-Star the team is pretty funny. Hopefully, should he actually be selected for the All-Star Team, the player takes it gracefully and plays his heart out. :)