from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Auston Matthews is coming up on 65 goals and has had the Rocket Richard locked down for weeks, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid are embroiled in an Art Ross race for the ages with Nikita Kucherov, and all of this probably means that Sidney Crosby won’t get a single vote as first all-star team center despite the fact that No. 87 is having one of the great seasons of his decorated career.

This serves as an explanation for why Peter Stastny never made a first- or second- all-star team during his career, why Pat LaFontaine made the second team once (first team, never) and Steve Yzerman was never so honored until his 17th season when he was voted onto the first team in 1999-2000.

That was life in the fast line for centers when the NHL was ruled by the Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux hegemony. Now, there are McDavid, MacKinnon and Matthews and one of these three will not be voted onto either all-star team.

Crosby may not get a vote as an all-star, but he might be a factor in the Hart Trophy balloting. Tampa Bay’s right wing Kucherov, who entered Saturday with 133 points to MacKinnon’s 131 and McDavid’s 128, seems to be leading the polls....

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I wonder whether the Wild’s twin additions of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on July 4, 2012, ultimately represent the most disappointing and perhaps destructive free-agent signings in NHL history even while at the same time at least partially filling their objective.