huzer Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 I was surprised when all of Melrose, Pang, and Buccigross named Souray a starter for the East in the All Star game. Not because I don't think Sheldon doesn't deserve it, but because it was ESPN talkin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs77 Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 The starters are those who were voted in by the fans... and as far as I know even in Montreal they are only pushing us to vote for Koivu, Zednik, and Theo... the others aren't even on the ballot. I doubt Souray will get more votes that the big name defensemen... fan voting has nothing to do with merit and more to do with name recognition. But once the starters are voted in, then the coaches choose who else is invited... and that's where Souray gets in. He won't start, but he'll be there. Here's a look at the voting so far in the Eastern Conference (actually the numbers are from dec 23rd): Defensemen Player NHL Club Votes Scott Stevens New Jersey 80,373 Scott Niedermayer New Jersey 71,776 Brian Leetch NY Rangers 46,923 Sergei Gonchar Washington 39,272 Eric Desjardins Philadelphia 37,878 Zdeno Chara Ottawa 37,761 Bryan McCabe Toronto 33,724 Wade Redden Ottawa 33,580 Tomas Kaberle Toronto 29,562 Dan Boyle Tampa Bay 27,126 Souray isn't even in the top 20, as I said he wasn't even a choice on the ballot so forget about him being voted in as a starter. Goaltenders Player NHL Club Votes Martin Brodeur New Jersey 96,946 Ed Belfour Toronto 57,077 Nikolai Khabibulin Tampa Bay 51,922 Jose Theodore Montreal 30766 Patrick Lalime Ottawa 25,006 Roberto Luongo Florida 17,906 Mike Dunham NY Rangers 17,782 Olaf Kolzig Washington 11,339 If Theo is going to make it he's going to have to be a coach's selection... because he doesn't have the votes. As we can see, with Martin St-Louis 2nd in winger voting it shows Tampa is a big voting city... the also have Khabibulin, Lecavalier, even Boyle in the top 10 or so of every category. In Montreal we just don't care enough about the All-Star game to vote 200 times each to get our guys in. Centers Player NHL Club Votes Joe Thornton Boston 41,748 Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh 33,638 Jeremy Roenick Philadelphia 33,133 Joe Nieuwendyk Toronto 29,242 Mats Sundin Toronto 26,035 Vincent Lecavalier Tampa Bay 20,413 Ron Francis Carolina 17,151 Chris Drury Buffalo 15,929 Saku Koivu Montreal 13,634 Robert Lang Washington 13,139 Radek Bonk Ottawa 12,559 Eric Lindros NY Rangers 12,413 Wings Player NHL Club Votes Ilya Kovalchuk Atlanta 93,506 Martin St. Louis Tampa Bay 48,234 Marian Hossa Ottawa 47,550 Tony Amonte Philadelphia 43,780 Owen Nolan Toronto 40,533 Jamie Langenbrunner New Jersey 38,669 Jaromir Jagr Washington 35,550 Alexander Mogilny Toronto 33,652 Daniel Alfredsson Ottawa 32,038 Patrik Elias New Jersey 24,421 Dany Heatley Atlanta 23,280 Jeff O'Neill Carolina 22,982 Alexei Kovalev NY Rangers 21,798 Glen Murray Boston 20,422 Sergei Samsonov Boston 19,551 Miroslav Satan Buffalo 19,036 Jeff Friesen New Jersey 17,510 Richard Zednik Montreal 16,231 Peter Bondra Washington 15,743 Martin Havlat Ottawa 9,739 *Mariusz Czerkawski NY Islanders 5,663 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 souray might not be officially named a starter, but look at what happened last year in the NBA allstar game - Yao Ming beat out Shaq for western conference starter (baiscally because the NBA had released the ballot on their Chinese language site) and start he did. For about 20 seconds, after which the west coach subbed in Shaq who played most of the game. Was Yao the starter? not really. It is not unthinkable that while Souray won't stand on the ice for the anthems, he will be there for the better part of the game. Personally, I think that turn of events is much cooler than Souray getting voted in. It's basically the coach's way of saying "All you guys that voted for a 78 year old defenseman don't know what you are talking about. Give me the sniper!" :hlogo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzer Posted January 6, 2004 Author Share Posted January 6, 2004 Originally posted by Habs77Souray isn't even in the top 20, as I said he wasn't even a choice on the ballot so forget about him being voted in as a starter. I never said I thought he would be a starter...I was just surprised that the usually "blind to Canada" ESPN announcers were acknowledging Souray, and actually thought that, in their minds, he should be an East starter. I still remember '93 when the dummies were all excited about the potential of a NYI/LA finals match up (go USA go) when the rest of the breathing world was drooling over a Leafs/Habs final. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs77 Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Originally posted by huzer Originally posted by Habs77Souray isn't even in the top 20, as I said he wasn't even a choice on the ballot so forget about him being voted in as a starter. I never said I thought he would be a starter...I was just surprised that the usually "blind to Canada" ESPN announcers were acknowledging Souray, and actually thought that, in their minds, he should be an East starter. I still remember '93 when the dummies were all excited about the potential of a NYI/LA finals match up (go USA go) when the rest of the breathing world was drooling over a Leafs/Habs final. I figured youd didn't mean that, still wanted ti point out the situation tough... he has to be a coach's pick no question. How has it been since a player (non-goalie) of ours actually DESERVED to be in the all-star game. It's been a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonavistaman11 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 The habs should have at least 2 players playing in the big game.. IMO Theo and Souray will definitely be there. Also Koivu has a good chance, he has elevated his game big time lately and is playing some real good hockey. If he can keep it up i think he;ll be there as well. Also Ryder and Komi will probably be playing in the youngstars game so that makes 5 habs involved in the All Star weekend. Anyone think Souray can win the hardest shot? He'll definitely be a shooter.....I'd say he can top 100mph!! :ghg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puck7x Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 The only way Koivu makes the team is as a commish-pick , since the eastern centres are too strong. I think Koivu has a chance to be the commish-pick , unless they choose an "old" (close to retiring) player like they usually do (Messier) ... Souray should be a lock. Theodore has a good chance .... It'll be Brodeur as the starter, then for the next 2 spots its between Theodore/Khabibulin/Belfour/Lalime/Belfour/Luongo/Weekes I dont think Belfour and Lalime will go , because they arent putting up better numbers then Theodore/Luongo/Weeks/Khabby , and they are on teams who will be sending other players to the game. About Sourays shot - He's one player who the graphite stick is doing wonders for! I bet he can clock a 90-100mph shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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