Sidney Crosby, you get your own apartment!

 By John Grigg, The Hockey News, Jan. 13, 2009:

In the East, forwards Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, David Krejci, Phil Kessel, Nicklas Backstrom (another Young Star) and Alexander Semin lost the numbers game. But Alex Kovalev - having another predictably pedestrian season - will be there. And while I respect Mike Komisarek’s game, the dynamic Mike Green is more All-Star Weekend-worthy than any shutdown guy, anytime.

...I offer a solution: Have NHL players, coaches and GMs vote on who should represent the best hockey league in the world at its All-Star Game. Then open the starting-lineup voting to fans a couple of weeks prior to the game.

Make the announcement an in-game event. Make a big deal of it. Keep the starters secret and give them prizes of some kind (Alex Ovechkin. Come on over! You’ve won your very own Segway. Sidney Crosby, you get your own apartment!). Make it fun. With some spontaneity and humor, it could be the NHL’s Golden Globe Awards.

Because, really, who cares who starts the All-Star Game, as long as the best players are there? And since the 30-team rule already makes that difficult, the NHL shouldn’t let electronic ballot-stuffers make it impossible.