We're exactly two months away from the 2011 NHL All Star Game, scheduled for the weekend of January 29-30 in Carolina, and the fan voting process is in full swing. There's just one glaring oddity about the current vote totals -- the lack of Western Conference star players on the top-15 list of vote recipients by position.
Forwards
- Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
- Jason Spezza, Senators
- Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Milan Michalek, Senators
- Joffrey Lupul, Leafs
- Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
- Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
- Jaromir Jagr, Flyers
- Patrick Kane, Blackhawks
- Evgeni Malkin, Penguins
- Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
- Marian Hossa, Blackhawks
- James Neal, Penguins
- Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
That's just three players -- a pair from both the Blackhawks and one from the Red Wings -- from the Western Conference. Heck, there are three players on that list just from the Penguins. And on defense, the patterns are similar.
Defensemen
- Erik Karlsson, Senators
- Dion Phaneuf, Leafs
- Kris Letang, Penguins
- Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
- Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings
- Sergei Gonchar, Senators
- Duncan Keith, Blackhawks
- John-Michael Liles, Leafs
- Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
- Brent Seabrook, Blackhawks
Three, and again both from big hockey towns like Chicago and Detroit. As Travis Hughes notes, by the time fan voting is over with, it appears like not a single All Star from the Western Conference will have been voted in by the fans.
Only six players are voted in by the fans. Three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie. If these numbers hold, and even if they change a bit, the chances of not a single Western Conference player being voted in by the fans are extremely high.