No disrespect to Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Alex Tanguay, but to echo the well-chosen words of the fans of 29 other NHL teams, their dogs, and the entire nation of Russia: Wtf??

Dear Canadiens’ fans: stuffing the ballot box with one name is a pardonable offense; but stuff your entire roster in there and you start to get obnoxious.

Another thing that gives one pause is Alexander Semin‘s high standing. Does he deserve a whole lot of votes? Certainly. But he’s got roughly the same number of votes as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkincombined. So I guess there’s some Semin Campaign in affect out there somewhere, although it seems a bit weird that a Semin vote isn’t pushing up the AO vote at the same time.

(*And something else weird is how many “Alex"s feature in on this entire situation. What are the odds?)

Off to the Western Conference where hockey in Texas is apparently so incredibly compelling that the massive fan base of 1 billion+ are taking the internet by storm:

Okay, not the same insane numbers as the Canadiens situation, but you can still smell the B.S. in the air. And the easiest way to tell that this Dallas thing is total crap is if we just make a quick comparison to the Red Wings votes—those Detroit fans are waaaaaaay too obnoxious, pushy and (admittedly) organized not to be overtaking this whole damn list, and without any cheating. :)

But Dallas? They’re up to something sinister, I tell ya.

The same story carries on down throughout the Defensemen and the Goalie voting categories in the Eastern Conference, though in the west it seems to be a bit less of an issue. For instance, Roberto Luongo is dominating those goalie votes, but his disproportionate representation can be a little easier explained. For one thing, he gets a ridiculous amount of PR all across the league. (I love the guy to death—and I know he’s a killer goalie—but geezus, he could make a save on a blind 5-year old and people would be screaming “Greaaaaat save Luongo!”). And for another, it doesn’t hurt that he’s just come off a well-publicized shutout streak.

But guess who’s in second place on that list? Marty Turco.

So, yes, those Texans do know how to rig an election…

Is all this a huge problem? Maybe, maybe not. I think people worry too much, really—it’s all for fun. But at the same time there are a few things to be mildly concerned about, and on that note I’ll leave the final word to James Mirtle at From the Rink:

How could this become a true disaster? Imagine for a moment if the movement from Stars fans to vote in Morrow, Ribeiro, Modano, Robidas, Zubov and Turco succeeds — the NHL would then have a 42-player all-star game with almost 30 per cent of its representatives from two teams.

And one would be Marty Turco.

*shiver*

We should all be afraid. Very very afraid…

P.S. For bonus points, Mirtle also asks the single funniest poll question I’ve read on a hockey site, ever: “Is it a problem if the Canadiens have six representatives at the 2009 all-star game?”

And the response amused me even more: 30% of the respondents actually said “No”.

Gotta love hockey fans. You people really are a kick. :)