2015 NHL All Star Game: Check out our roster predictions
The Cannon writers offer up their predictions for the All Star Game rosters, prior to the formal announcement by the league tomorrow.
The first six players have already been named, via the fan vote- Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Zemgus Girgensons, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford. The league will name the remaining players tomorrow, and in advance of that a few of us at The Cannon offer up our predictions of who will be named:
FORWARD
MIKE | DAN | JEFF | ERIC | MATT |
Girgensons | Girgensons | Girgensons | Girgensons | Girgensons |
Kane | Kane | Kane | Kane | Kane |
Toews | Toews | Toews | Toews | Toews |
Voracek | Voracek | Voracek | Voracek | Voracek |
Foligno | Foligno | Foligno | Foligno | Foligno |
Johansen | Johansen | Johansen | Johansen | Johansen |
Nash | Nash | Nash | Nash | Nash |
Crosby | Crosby | Crosby | Crosby | Crosby |
Malkin | Malkin | Malkin | Malkin | Malkin |
Giroux | Giroux | Giroux | Giroux | Giroux |
Tavares | Tavares | Tavares | Tavares | Tavares |
Ovechkin | Ovechkin | Ovechkin | Ovechkin | Ovechkin |
Stamkos | Stamkos | Stamkos | Kessel | Stamkos |
T. Johnson | T. Johnson | T. Johnson | T. Johnson | Kessel |
Seguin | Seguin | Seguin | Seguin | Seguin |
Getzlaf | Getzlaf | Getzlaf | Getzlaf | Getzlaf |
Tarasenko | Tarasenko | Tarasenko | Tarasenko | Tarasenko |
Zetterberg | Forsberg | Forsberg | Forsberg | Forsberg |
Kessel | Backstrom | Hudler | Backstrom | Backstrom |
Pavelski | Pavelski | Pavelski | Pavelski | Pavelski |
Parise | Zetterberg | Gaudreau | Datsyuk | Datsyuk |
D. Sedin | Hudler | D. Sedin | D. Sedin | D. Sedin |
Kucherov | Kucherov | Little | Pacioretty | Pacioretty |
Nugent-Hopkins | van Riemsdyk | Thornton | Bergeron | Bergeron |
DEFENSE
MIKE | DAN | JEFF | ERIC | MATT |
Keith | Keith | Keith | Keith | Keith |
Seabrook | Seabrook | Seabrook | Seabrook | Seabrook |
Subban | Subban | Subban | Subban | Subban |
Karlsson | Karlsson | Karlsson | Karlsson | Karlsson |
Weber | Weber | Letang | Weber | Weber |
Chara | Leddy | Hamilton | Brodie | Chara |
Doughty | Doughty | Franson | Doughty | Doughty |
E. Johnson | Barrie | Carlson | Carlson | Josi |
Giordano | Giordano | Giordano | Giordano | Giordano |
Shattenkirk | Shattenkirk | Shattenkirk | Shattenkirk | Yandle |
Burns | Burns | Burns | Burns | Burns |
Yandle | Yandle | Vatanen | Suter | Vatanen |
GOALIE
MIKE | DAN | JEFF | ERIC | MATT |
Crawford | Crawford | Crawford | Crawford | Crawford |
Rinne | Rinne | Rinne | Rinne | Halak |
Price | Price | Price | Price | Price |
Bobrovsky | Howard | Bobrovsky | Bobrovsky | Bobrovsky |
Luongo | Luongo | Lundqvist | Luongo | Miller |
Hutchinson | C. Anderson | Quick | F. Andersen | F. Andersen |
I'll speak for myself when I say I had a hard time including everybody I thought was worthy. I also found myself including players who may not have deserved an All Star Spot, but I couldn't imagine a scenario where the league wouldn't want him there. (Think hardest shot competition)
I tried to get representation from every team, and I did that with the exception of New Jersey and Carolina. The workaround for that is the inclusion of rookies into the skill events. Defenseman Damon Severson is having a solid rookie year, so there's New Jersey's rep. For Carolina....Victor Rask. Yeah, that'll work.
Notable snubs from my picks include Nicklas Backstrom, Jiri Hudler, John Carlson and Marc-Andre Fleury. Backstrom was bumped by my inclusion of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers lack a defenseman or rookie that would qualify as a rep, and if I'm including every team Nuge is in there. Trust me, I'd rather see Backstrom or Hudler. John Carlson was a tough one. I have Chara in there over him, strictly because the big guy has the leading role in the hardest shot competition. I can't wait to see he and Weber face off against each other in this event. Fleury was bumped because I wanted to include Michael Hutchinson. He's such a great story this year, and his stats have earned him a trip to the big game. That, and somebody from Winnipeg had to go.
You also may have noticed that I didn't have Filip Forsberg among my forwards. The rookie thing helped me make room for Zach Parise, the Minnesota rep. We tried our hand at rookies, but we were unsure of the format. For the sake of discussion, I chose twelve, non-goalie rookies. I've already mentioned Forsberg, Severson and Rask, my remaining nine are Johnny Gaudreau, Aaron Ekblad, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Tanner Pearson, Jonathan Drouin, John Klingberg, Kevin Hayes and Linden Vey. Nine forwards, three defensemen.
Where did we go wrong? I'm sure there will be disagreement. Make sure your safety's on and let us know in the comments!