Fast start earns Flyers' Carter All-Star honor

THERE ISN'T A PLAYER in the Flyers' locker room who would argue the fact that Jeff Carter belongs in this year's NHL All-Star Game.

"The guys that are there deserve to be there, they're definitely All-Star players," said Mike Richards, who many expected to also be named to the Eastern Conference team along with Carter yesterday. "I know we have the right guy in the game from our team, that's for sure."

For Carter, the selection was an unexpected honor, unexpected at least at the start of he season.

"It's good, it's exciting," said Carter, who had 27 goals going into last night's game against Minnesota. "It's definitely a big honor. There are a lot of deserving guys in the league, especially on our team and a lot of guys could have gone. It's going to be a good experience and it should be fun.

"I didn't expect this," he added, "not at all. I'm usually a slow starter and I got off to a decent start there and kept things rolling and guess it's always in the back of your mind that you might get a look, but I tried not to really think about it too much. I just tried to go out and play."

Still, with only one Flyer out of five on the ballot and Carter, who was a write-in, finishing among the conference leaders in voting, the question of how the players are selected deserves some consideration from the league. Because of a massive voting campaign by the Montreal Canadiens and their fans, four of the six starters from the conference are Canadiens. The All-Star Game will be played Jan. 25 in Montreal.

The other two, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, are from Pittsburgh. The Western Conference had a similar situation with all six starters coming from two teams.

The league added another slight by adding three players from Boston, Tim Thomas, Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara.

Carter was chosen because of his outstanding play this season, but certainly Richards, Simon Gagne and Kimmo Timonen - or at least one of the three - deserved to be picked in addition to Carter.

"I don't think it's disappointing," Richards said. "The fans voted by ballot and should pick the teams, if they are going to be the ones paying the money to be there and watch the game."

Marty Biron, who was also on the ballot, wasn't as diplomatic.