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.
