Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
The 2023 NHL All-Star Game is fast approaching, and the league has officially revealed the first batch of players who will be taking their talents to Florida in February for the festivities.
At the moment, one player from each team has been selected to represent their division in Sunrise next month, with the remaining three roster spots for each squad being decided in the weeks ahead by a fan vote at NHL.com/vote.
There will also be a Twitter vote for the first time between Jan. 12 and 14, where each tweet with #NHLAllStarVote and the player’s full name or Twitter handle gets counted as a vote.
Here’s who’s been named so far for each division.
Atlantic Division
Leading the way for the Atlantic Division is goaltender Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins. In 25 games this season, the 29-year-old has amassed an outstanding 21-1-1 record along with a dazzling .939 save percentage and two shutouts.
Tage Thompson will be representing the Sabers this year, marking his first-ever All-Star selection, while Dylan Larkin will once again serve as the Red Wings’ representative. The Montreal Canadiens will have captain Nick Suzuki as their ambassador this time around, with Matthew Tkachuk participating in the event coincidentally being held in his own arena and will be joined by his brother and Senators’ captain, Brady Tkachuk. Finally, Mitch Marner of the Maple Leafs and Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning came in as the final two attendees.
Metropolitan Division
Andrei Svechnkov will represent the Hurricanes while Johnny Gaudreau will be the Blue Jackets’ selection, and Jack Hughes will represent the Devils.
As for the New York teams, Brock Nelson has been chosen from the Islanders, while reigning Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin will represent the Rangers. Shifting focus to Pennsylvania, Kevin Hayes will be the one to carry the Flyers logo on his back this year while Sidney Crosby comes to town for the Penguins. And, to round out the list, Alexander Ovechkin and his record-setting goal total will represent the Capitals. In past years, Ovechkin elected to miss the All-Star Weekend, which led to one-game suspensions.
Pacific Division
Connor McDavid is heading back to the All-Star Game on behalf of the Oilers, while Nazem Kadri represents the Flames. Troy Terry of the Ducks, Kevin Fiala of the Kings and Erik Karlsson of the Sharks make up the players from the California teams.
Rookie Matty Beniers heads to his first All-Star Game for the Kraken, and rookie goaltender Logan Thompson was chosen for the Golden Knights. Elias Pettersson of the Canucks rounds out the division.
Central Division
Clayton Keller of the Coyotes, Seth Jones of the Blackhawks and Cale Makar of the Avalanche were all selected for the game. Jason Robertson of the Stars and Josh Morrissey of the Jets will head over after earning praise across the NHL for their sweet starts to the season.
Kirill Kaprizov is the Wild’s All-Star player, and Juuse Saros is the Predators’ All-Star goalie. Vladimir Tarasenko will represent the Blues.
This year’s All-Star Game certainly seems to be rounding into a good one.
Correction: Nikita Kucherov is the representative of the Lightning, not Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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