NHL Announces 2017 All Star Rosters

The National Hockey League announced the rosters for the 2017 Honda NHL All Star Game on Tuesday. 

The 40 players will join the four captains, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban of the Nashville Predators and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California during the weekend of January 27 to January 29. Crosby, Subban, Price and McDavid were selected by the fans earlier this month. 

Each of the league’s four divisions will consist of 11 players per side with six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies, playing in a 20 minute three-on-three mini game. The winning team from each of the first two periods will square off in the third period to determine the winning division. 

The Atlantic Division which will be led by Canadiens goaltender Price, has been rounded off up front by; Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins, Frans Nielsen of the Detroit Red Wings, Kyle Okposo of the Buffalo Sabres, Vincent Trocheck of the Florida Panthers and the 2016 first overall selection from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews. 

On the blueline for the Atlantic will be Victor Hedman of the Lightning, Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and Shea Weber from the Canadiens. In the crease, Price will be joined by Tukka Rask of the Bruins. 

Crosby’s Metropolitan Division squad will consist of; Penguins teammate, Evgeni Malkin, Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, John Tavares of the New York Islanders and Wayne Simmonds from the Philadelphia Flyers as the six forwards. The defense will be shored up by; Justin Falk of the Carolina Hurricanes, Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ryan McDonagh of the New York Rangers. 

Between the pipes for the Metropolitan Division will be Sergei Bobrovsky of the Blue Jackets and Braden Holtby of the Capitals. 

Subban will lead the Central Division into battle with forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks. Winnipeg Jets rookie, Patrik Laine, Colorado Avalanche forward, Nathan McKinnon, Tyler Seguin from the Dallas Stars and Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues will round out the six forwards with Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild completing the blue liners for the Central. 

In the crease for the Central Division will be Corey Crawford from the Blackhawks and Devan Dubnyk of the Wild. 

The Pacific Division will defend their bragging rights from the 2016 game in Nashville, Tennessee with McDavid leading the way surrounded by; Jeff Carter of the Los Angeles Kings, Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames, Bo Horvat of the Vancouver Canuks, Ryan Kesler of the Anaheim Ducks and Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks up front.

The defensive corps will be run with Drew Doughty of the Kings, Brent Burns of the Sharks and Cam Fowler of the Ducks. Martin Jones of the Sharks and Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes will be between the pipes for the Pacific Division. 

The coaching staffs will be headed up by Blue Jackets head coach, John Tortorella for the Metropolitan Division, Michel Therrien of the Canadiens behind the bench for the Atlantic Division, Bruce Boudreau of the Wild for the Central Division and Peter DeBoer of the Sharks behind the bench with the Pacific Division. 

The 2017 Coors Light All-Star Skills Competition will take place on Saturday January 28 at 9:00 PM Eastern Time. The 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Game will then be played on Sunday January 29 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time. Both events will take place at the Staples Center.