From Canadiens.com:
While Quebecers headed to the polls for the second time in as many months, hockey fans still have until January 2 to have their voices heard.
The Canadiens gave Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt a run for his money when the parties hit the campaign trail in mid-November, jumping out to seemingly insurmountable leads. Recently, though, the campaign has suffered a slowdown on the 51-day trail. Penguins delegate Sidney Crosby has moved ahead of the Habs’ three forward candidates up front. That pushed Alex Tanguay, the newest member of the Montreal delegation, to the outside. Fellow Pittsburgh rep Evgeni Malkin has also seen a surge in votes, moving ahead of Tanguay and tightening the gap on Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev.
Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek are still leading the way in the blue line riding, as is Carey Price in the All-Star crease. In both cases, though, a cell phone push by the Pittsburgh party has also begun putting some heat on Guy Carbonneau’s candidates.Remember, there are two ways to have your voices heard and you can do both as often as you want: vote online or simply text “Canadiens” to 81812, guaranteeing a vote for all six delegates.
Forwards:
1. Sidney Crosby 599,857
2. Alex Kovalev 533,053
3. Saku Koivu 532,481
4. Evgeni Malkin 529,347
5. Alex Tanguay 524,574
Defensemen:
1. Andrei Markov 590,141
2. Mike Komisarek 536,185
3. Sergei Gonchar 404,902
4. Ryan Whitney 375,766
Goaltender
1. Carey Price 576,537
2. Marc-André Fleury 442,459
Results as of Dec. 9 at 8:56 AM.
Habster:
All is well in the world once again, especially if you’re a Penguins fan.
I have absolutely no problem with two great and deserving players like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby getting tons of votes to pass lesser deserving players like Alex Kovalev and Alex Tanguay.
With that being said, two wrongs don’t make a right, and I do have a problem when injured players like Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are getting sympathy votes from their fans. Both players will be out for a large chuck of the season with serious injuries. I think Whitney is about 2-3 weeks away from returning from his foot injury and could participate, but still wouldn’t be deserving of the nod. They haven’t played thus far this season and are not deserving of the massive voting they’re receiving from Penguins fans.
Voting for great players like Malkin and Crosby is a no-brainer but wasting votes for good player who are unable to play in the game is worst than stuffing the ballot box for lesser deserving players who can attend the game.