But could the sport finally be primed for a resurgence?

New star players can energize a sport like nothing else. Babe Ruth revolutionized baseball with his mammoth blasts. Michael Jordan elevated basketball to new heights, both figuratively and literally. Tiger Woods has enthused interest in golf not just with numbers, but by crossing racial and cultural boundaries.

Now I’m not saying any current NHL player has even begun to make a mark on the scale of the aforementioned athletes, or ever will. But the emergence of Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin has brought an excitement to the sport that hasn’t been seen since the days of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

Gretzky and Lemieux. Two legendary names. Talent above and beyond everyone else of their generation. Excitement every time they took the ice.

Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin have those same qualities. Unbelievable talent, the ability to electrify the crowd at a split-second’s notice on any shift-change.

Just like this incredible goal that Ovechkin scored last night:

I honestly admire the Penguins’ fans efforts to counteract the vote spamming by Canadiens’ fans earlier in the year. They got their favorite player up there where he should be and I can get behind that. He deserves the starting spot in the game for the numbers he’s put up so far. I have no problem whatsoever with them mobilizing their fanbase to put their best player into the starting line-up for the All-Star game.

What I have a problem with is the league touting this “record-breaking achievement” as if it is a reflection of the mandate of the masses. You can’t, in the same competition, admit that the Canadiens’ fans were stuffing the ballots and make corrections to the ballot, while simultaneously using the breaking of the Jagr record as a PR tool. It’s hypocritical.

Further, there are so many more ways in which fans can vote for their favorite players these days that the two achievements are not comparable. The addition of the internet, text messaging, and social networking sites such as Facebook to the voting process make any connection between the two records dubious at best. Crosby’s vote total this season bears no resemblance to the one Jagr earned in 2000, no matter how much Bettman wants it to be.

I think Greg Wyshynski in his excellent blog at Yahoo.com sums it up best:

Look, it’s just all-star voting. I get that. But what we’re asking for is a modicum of integrity here from the NHL. It’s no different than if a player breaks a significant season scoring record, and the League reminds fans that there were only six teams and 70 games when it was originally set. It’s just context, that’s all.

That was written before the record was broken, but it played out exactly as the author predicted.

I understand how it works. Star players get star treatment. It’s why Crosby only got a two-minute minor for his speedbag action on Boris Valabik’s testicles. But Jagr was a star player in this league for a long time, too. He deserves the accolades he honestly earned. I wonder if the NHL would have handled this the same way had Jagr not defected to the KHL.