It might not be the most outlandish exclusion, but Joe Thornton isn’t my battle. It’s not my responsibility to argue for Jarome Iginla until I’m blue in the face. Blake needs an advocate, and I think I can be that crusader.
The easiest way to go about this is to stick within his position. If the list is based on precedent, then any omitted player that you can successfully argue is better than a player who made the list can be justifiably labeled as a snub.
This logic admittedly has flaws, though. Among defensemen, I’m assuming that Blake is the very best that was left off the list.