Keep in mind, throughout the 80's there were only 21 teams in the league... and there was no real easy way to have fans participate in voting. I seem to remember the coaches having a lot of input on filling out the roster, and the only caveat was there had to be at least one player from each team.
The commissioner pick was in play for a while where the commissioner would pick a player to participate and it was usually those guys that were on their way out... That was how Hawerchuk got to play in his last All Star game in 1997.
Cory
