Alexander Ovechkin Stole James Neal’s All-Star Spot

By Phil Krundle     January 21, 2012

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The number one goal scoring left winger in the NHL, James Neal  is currently without a spot on the NHL All-Star Game roster and barring injury to a player currently on the roster he’ll be sitting at home watching the game on TV.

The NHL invites 24 total players who play offense onto their All-Star squad. Three of which are voted in by the NHL fans. Three players from Ottawa, the home of the All-Star game, were voted in by the fans. We should all be aware of how the voting works here in Pittsburgh. If you are not, reference how Kristopher Allen Letang landed an All-Star spot last year. Who doesn’t respect a good grass roots voting campaign especially in an election year.

The other 21 players are voted in by what is called the NHL’s Hockey Operations Department. Picking these players would be a seemingly easy task if it wasn’t for the fact that you want to include one player from every team. That starts to complicate things a tiny bit, but the NHL created the “Rookie” All-Star game to help alleviate that problem.

For reasons unknown Alexander Ovechkin is on the All-Star team. Ranked 43rd overall in the NHL in scoring you would think maybe he made it because of the ...