This weekend the NHL All-Star game is making its long-awaited return after a decision was made to postpone the game in 2021 following the widespread breakout of Coronavirus.
Fans, the editors, and writers from the official NHL website have voted to elect one team from each of the Atlantic, Pacific, Central, and Metropolitan divisions to play.
After two years of Covid-19 restrictions, limiting travel and human interaction, the event will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where fans will finally reunite to witness the best of the best going head-to-head in the skills games followed by the three vs three tournament.
Let us take a look at the rosters and break down what we can expect to see this weekend.
For the sixth consecutive year, there’ll be a mini-tournament between fan and journalist-elected teams selected from each of the NHL’s four divisions.
On Friday we’ll see the teams go head-to-head in a skill-games event and the winning team will select their semi-final opponent to go up against in the all-star game tournament the following day. The two remaining teams will also play against each other. The winners of both semi-final games will battle it out in the final at the end of the night.
The skill-games event includes two new events: ‘Fountain Face-Off‘ which will see players fire pucks at targets at the world-famous Fountains of Bellagio, while a game of blackjack will take place on Las Vegas Boulevard involving players hitting oversized cards.
Each game is three vs three, with ten-minute halves to show a big difference from a regular league game that would take place usually.
Atlantic Division roster:
* replaced OTT F Drake Batherson (injury)
The Atlantic team is likely to be among the favorites with bettors, having what is arguably the best and most balanced roster of the divisions.
Eight of their eleven players selected for the mini-tournament have previously been selected for the game, which is more than any of the other divisions.
On top of that, the likes of Steven Stamkos and Andrei Vasilevskiy make this team a very strong ‘top-heavy’ side but they also possess the hunger and energy of first-time all-stars Nick Suzuki and Jack Campbell.
This combination makes them tough to bet against and they should be great fun to watch.
Pacific Division roster:
24-year-old Connor McDavid is undoubtedly one of the most exciting players in the league right now, and he captains the division for the first time in his career.
McDavid so far this season has scored 19 goals and assisted 34 goals in 34 games so far this season, and he’ll be joined by Leon Draisaitl (26G/28A in 35 games), Timo Meier (20G/25A in 35 games), and Troy Terry (22G/14A in 38 games) for a trio that is at the peak of their powers.
They’ll be incredibly exciting to watch and have the ability to go all the way, but their goalies will likely let them down in the end considering their poor averages among the rest of the goalies.
Metropolitan Division roster:
* replaced NYR D Adam Fox (injury)
The Metropolitan division has got the best player in the league on their team for my money and he’ll be the captain too, in Alex Ovechkin.
The Capitals forward is appearing in his eighth all-star game at 36-years-old and will look to lead the team to a victory despite struggling in recent years during the mini-tournament.
Adding in Sebastian Aho who has scored 16 goals and assisted 22 at just 24-years-old, as well as Kris Kreider from the New York Rangers, Evgeny Kuznetzov from the Washington Capitals, and the second-best goalie in terms of Goals Against on average with Frederik Andersen, you just cannot rule them out with a sane mind.
Central Division roster:
* replaced COL F Nathan MacKinnon (injury)
Of the 20 players in this year’s selection making their first appearance in an all-star game, eight of them will come from the Central Division.
That could quite easily be a big advantage for them though, with the hunger and excitement coming through in their play as well as the eagerness to make an impression on all the seasoned veterans who have been there and done it before.
With their energy, skill, hunger, and ability to go with their youth, they have a really good chance to go all the way to claim victory for themselves and their division early on in their career.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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