Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

Joe Sakic continues to lead all Western Conference forwards in all-star vote getting with 260,397 at last count. Did anyone mention that he's 37 years old and has been playing in the league for 21 seasons now? That's 1,264 games in a fast-paced, then crash-and-bang, and then fast-paced again league. Lesser men may have crumbled under the pressure but Joe is a god amongst men in the NHL.

He came into the league straight out of the WHL, where I had the pleasure of watching him play with the Swift Current Broncos for two seasons. I'll never forget his last home game where he and Theo Fleury were racing for the scoring title. They bounced back and forth that night until Joe set up a goal that tied the two at 160 points (in 64 games!). Joe won out though b/c he had one less game played AND more goals than Fleury (78 to 68). At least I think that's how it went. Give me a break, I was eight years old!

He has five 100+ point seasons, and only 3 seasons where he was under a point per game. His rookie season, 97-98 where he had 63 in 64 games, and 2001-2002 where he had 79 in 82 games. "Isn't as prolific as he used to be." my ass TSN. When you're 37 years old and leading your team in scoring, that's about as bad as the criticism can get I suppose. I wonder if I should stop pointing out that he's 37. He might not like that. Because I'm sure he reads my blog every day.

Back on topic, the next closest vote-getter is Joe Thornton with 245,083. That's about double what Patrick Marleau is getting. Even though Marleau has more points (ok, one more) and a better plus/minus (+9 compared to -5). Oh, and don't forget that he leads that damn team and plays on a line with 2 rookies who he's helped light it up this year. The guys the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL. Minus the whole "overweight" thing. I voted for you Pat!

Milan Hejduk and JM Liles are the other two Avs getting a decent amount of points, but they won't be making it to the show. Hejduk is 23rd amongst forwards and Liles is 12th among defensemen. Nash, Cheechoo, and Zetterberg are some of the folks ahead of Hejduk which can only be described as riding on the coattails of your last name since they are all off to slow starts this year.

Teemu Selanne, one of two Western conference players in the top 20 in points, is behind Martin Havlat. Martin Havlat has played all of SEVEN games this season! So you reward the guy who got off to a great start but not the guy who hit his stride a bit late? Come on voters, what are you doing? Quit hearing names and then voting. Think a bit before you cast a vote. No wonder G.W. is in office (oh no he didn't just go there!)

I can't argue with the votes for defensemen though. Niedermeyer, Lidstrom, Pronger and Phaneuf are the top four easily. Rory Fitzpatrick is benefitting from some viral marketing (who's his PR man!) and is comfortably in fifth place. Zubov, Ohlund and Hannan are battling it out for sixth.

As for goaltenders, Turco, Kipper and...Luongo?, are leading. How Luongo is ahead of Roloson or Giguere, I don't know. Vancouver fans must be behind the scenes here as they've got 6 players in the running and...well...they suck. Ok, they don't suck, but they certainly aren't good enough to warrant the most representation out of any team in the west. I will begrudgingly admit that the Sedin twins are having another stellar year though. And Luongo is picking up his play. But come on, be objective! I didn't vote for Hejduk OR Liles so you Nuck fans can do it too.

Oh, and to everyone voting for Turco...keep going. Let him have his fun at the all-star game. The poor guy deserves it after the last two playoff series. Who was it that beat them in the last two series anyways? Hmm...