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It's that special time of the year again. No, I'm not referring to Christmas, Boxing Day, or even the now infamous LCS office Christmas party. It's that time of year when fans at NHL arenas around North America recklessly vote for their favorite All-Stars.

This year voting ballots are available at NHL arenas, Wendy's restaurants, and even online at Yahoo. Voting began November 1, and concludes December 28. This is the second year of the international showdown format, pitting North America against the World. Personally, I liked the old inter-conference format. But anything that got rid of those horrendous purple and teal All-Star jerseys got my vote. Unfortunately, Gary Bettman doesn't consider my vote "legitimate." Whatever that means...

A few things are wacky about this year's All-Star Game. Number one being that it's in Tampa Bay. The NHL All-Star Game in Tampa Bay. Has a nice ring to it. Sort of like holding the NFL Pro-Bowl at Lambeau Field in February, or the NBA All-Star Game in Vancouver. For that matter, NBA All-Star Game, period. It's all based on the stupid-ass system of awarding an All-Star Game to a city that builds a new arena.

The other poor policy change regarding the mid-season classic is the coaching selection. Back in the day, the coaches were selected from the previous season's Stanley Cup finalists. Scotty Bowman and Ron Wilson should be coaching this season's All-Star teams, but that won't happen. Today, the coaches are taken from each of the league's six division leaders. Can we say...lame?

The other wackiness stems from the voting results to date. The Detroit Red Wings are currently dominating at the poles. With only two weeks left to vote, the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champs are set to send seven starters to Tampa Bay for the January 24 game. The previous record for starters in an All-Star Game was set by the 1985-86 Edmonton Oilers, who started five of the six Campbell Conference spots.

Here are the current projected starters:

World All-Star Team
Position   Player            Team       Country
Center     Sergei Fedorov    Detroit    Russia
Wing       Jaromir Jagr      Pittsburgh Czech Republic
Wing       Teemu Selanne     Anaheim    Finland
Defense    Nicklas Lidstrom  Detroit    Sweden
Defense    Uwe Krupp         Detroit    Germany
Goaltender Dominik Hasek     Buffalo    Czech Republic

North America All-Star Team
Position   Player            Team       Country
Center     Steve Yzerman     Detroit    Canada
Wing       Brendan Shanahan  Detroit    Canada
Wing       Paul Kariya       Anaheim    Canada
Defense    Larry Murphy      Detroit    Canada
Defense    Ray Bourque       Boston     Canada
Goaltender Chris Osgood      Detroit    Canada

Notice any patterns? Besides Detroit occupying seven of 12 starting spots, Canada dominates all six North American slots. I would've thought Mexico would've had at least one representative. Especially with that Taco Bell talking Chihuahua brainwashing all the voters.

And how the hell is Uwe Krupp going to be elected as a starter? Granted he has missed eight games due to injury, but he has only five points in 22 games. Come on, Uwe. All-Star starters don't tally only 20 points over an entire year.

Who are we looking at for reserves? For goaltenders, the World Team has got to take those two former Soviets, Nikolai Khabibulin and Arturs Irbe. The North American team should take Byron Dafoe and Curtis Joseph. But Ken Hitchcock will probably take Eddie Belfour from his own team.

Alexei Yashin by Meredith Martini

As far as forwards, these World players are putting up big numbers this year and will probably be selected as reserves: Peter Forsberg, Dimitri Khristich, Martin Straka, Mats Sundin and Alexei Yashin. St. Louis' Pavol Demitra and Boston's Sergei Samsonov should be making their first All-Star appearances in Tampa Bay.

The World defensive reserves will include the likes of Roman Hamrlik, Boris Mironov, Teppo Numminen, and Mattias Ohlund.

For North America, here are probable All-Star forward reserves: Tony Amonte, Theo Fleury, Wayne Gretzky, Bill Guerin, John LeClair, Eric Lindros, Mark Messier, Joe Sakic, and Keith Tkachuk.

On the North American defense, there are a slew of possible reserves. Likely representatives include: Brian Leetch, Al MacInnis, and Darryl Sydor. After that it's a toss-up. Might we see Adrian Aucoin in Tampa Bay? He does have nine goals from the point for Mike Keenan's Canucks.

It's all speculation, folks. So please, as always, no wagering.

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