Erik Karlsson named to 2017 NHL All-Star Game roster
A look at the full ASG rosters
It’s hardly a surprise that for the second year in a row, the Ottawa Senators’ lone representative at the NHL All-Star Game will be captain Erik Karlsson. It is a surprise that at this point in the season, Karlsson only leads the Sens in points by one. Still, he’s the team’s best player, and the game’s top defenceman, so he gets the nod. It will be his fourth time playing at an NHL All-Star Game. He’ll be joining defencemen Shea Weber of the Canadiens and Victor Hedman of the Lightning as the representative for the Atlantic Division.
The Atlantic Division team contains some surprise, mostly because every team has to have at least one representative. Vincent Trocheck will be representing the Panthers thanks to his 24-point season (I would’ve liked to see Jonathan Marchesseault get his due), and Frans Nielsen will represent the Red Wings thanks to his 22 points in 40 games, which actually puts him right up there on an awful Detroit squad.
There were some other big surprises for me. For example, Cam Atkinson is currently eighth league-wide in scoring, but he couldn’t crack the Metro roster. The Blackhawks are sending four participants, including Jonathan Toews who is currently putting up Ryan Dzingel numbers. I’m also severely disappointed that Martin Jones gets a nod as a Pacific goalie over Peter Budaj (Mike Smith had to go because he’s the lone Coyotes representative), because Budaj as an all-star is one of those incredible redemption stories.
Below are the entire rosters:
Atlantic Division
F - Nikita Kucherov - TBL
F - Brad Marchand - BOS
F - Auston Matthews - TML
F - Frans Nielsen - DET
F - Kyle Okposo - BUF
F - Vincent Trocheck - FLA
D - Erik Karlsson - OTT
D - Shea Weber - MTL
D - Victor Hedman - TBL
G - Carey Price - MTL (captain)
G - Tuukka Rask - BOS
Metropolitan Division
F - Sidney Crosby - PIT (captain)
F - Taylor Hall - EDM NJD
F - Alex Ovechkin - WSH
F - Evgeni Malkin - PIT
F - Wayne Simmonds - PHI
F - John Tavares - NYI
D - Justin Faulk - CAR
D - Seth Jones - CBJ
D - Ryan McDonagh - NYR
G - Sergei Bobrovsky - CBJ
G - Braden Holtby - WSH
Central Division
F - Patrick Kane - CHI
F - Patrik Laine - WPG
F - Nathan MacKinnon - COL
F - Tyler Seguin - DAL
F - Vladimir Tarasenko - STL
F - Jonathan Toews - CHI
D - Duncan Keith - CHI
D - P.K. Subban - NSH (captain)
D - Ryan Suter - MIN
G - Corey Crawford - CHI
G - Devan Dubnyk - MIN
Pacific Division
F - Jeff Carter - LAK
F - Johnny Gaudreau - CGY
F - Bo Horvat - VAN
F - Ryan Kesler - ANA
F - Connor McDavid - EDM (captain)
F - Joe Pavelski - SJS
D - Brent Burns - SJS
D - Drew Doughty - LAK
D - Cam Fowler - ANA
G - Martin Jones - SJS
G - Mike Smith - ARI
