Looking for deserving players to fill out your NHL All-Star Game fan vote ballot? Look no further.
This year's NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto will feature some fresh twists.
First, let's talk about what's the same. The 3-on-3 tournament format for Saturday's All-Star Game day remains, and fans are still invited to help select some of the participants.
From now until Jan. 11, voting is open. Fans can cast their ballots for their favorite eight skaters and four goaltenders at NHL.com/vote and on the NHL App, as well as at X (formerly Twitter).
But the four teams of nine skaters and two goalies won't represent the league's divisions this year. For the first time since 2015, the All-Star Draft is returning. On Thursday, Feb. 1, four NHL captains will each collaborate with a celebrity to select their game rosters.
Last year, fans could only vote for two players and one goaltender from each division, which narrowed the field. This time around, the options are wide open. The eight skaters and four goaltenders on a ballot can come from any team so we could end up seeing greater representation from one division or one conference, depending on how the votes shake down.
As a reminder: one player from each team was named to the all-star roster on Thursday. Here are those lists — first from the Eastern Conference:
And now, from the Western Conference:
Injuries almost always cause changes in these preliminary rosters — and while there's no official timeline yet for Connor Bedard's broken jaw, past history suggests that it'll be tight for him to be ready to play in less than four weeks' time.
For now, let's not worry about that.
We also don't have enough information at this time to try to project the outcome of a second fan voting window which will open from Jan. 13 to 18. That one will complete the field for All-Star Friday's revamped skills competition, with a $1-million prize on the line. Just 12 players from the all-star group will be selected to take part in that event, with eight selected by the league before the final four are voted in.
Today, let's look at who seems best-suited and arguably most deserving to round out the field before the All-Star Draft.
In 3-on-3 play, we usually see two forwards and one defenseman on the ice. So, each team's nine-skater group would typically have six forwards and three blueliners — a total of 24 and 12 across the four teams.
That's not going to happen at All-Star Weekend. Of the initial 32 players announced on Thursday, 26 are forwards, four are goalies and just two are defensemen — Vancouver's Quinn Hughes and Buffalo's Rasmus Dahlin. Even once the rosters are filled out, forwards will definitely rule the day.
Right now, the blueline is the only place where the conferences are represented equally. The NHL's initial list has three goalies from the Western Conference — Jake Oettinger, Connor Hellebuyck and Cam Talbot, and only Igor Shesterkin from the East.
That means 14 forwards are from the Eastern Conference, compared to 12 from the West.
Many teams have created slates that can easily be voted for by their fans en masse, by retweeting on X. So there's definitely a chance that we could see one or more teams with a very strong presence on All-Star Weekend like we did in 2012, when fans of the host Ottawa Senators voted defenseman Erik Karlsson and forwards Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek all into the starting six.
That's why voting matters.
Defensemen
Let's start by filling out our ballot with some deserving defensemen, in hopes of improving that ratio.
The obvious name, of course, is Cale Makar — the 2022 Norris Trophy winner who's keeping pace with Quinn Hughes in the scoring race and actually boasts a higher rate of points per game (1.34).
Of course, Makar has also missed five games this season with lower-body issues. And while his average ice time is down by nearly two minutes a game this year, he's the kind of workhorse who would probably appreciate a few days off just as much as an invitation to Toronto.
He took part in both the 2022 and 2023 events. Wouldn't you love to see him in the skills competition this year?
As he celebrates his 24th birthday on Sunday, Noah Dobson would probably relish his first all-star invitation. The 12th pick in the 2018 draft has ascended to the top spot on the Islanders' blueline and is averaging nearly a point a game while playing a whopping five minutes more than last season, at 25:52 a game. And he isn't one-dimensional: Dobson is also a team-leading plus-20 on an Islanders squad that carries a minus-9 goal differential.
Consideration could also be given to the formidable Josh Morrissey, who made his first all-star appearance in 2023 and has been an anchor as the Winnipeg Jets have climbed to first overall in the league. Also, spare a thought for under-the-radar Gustav Forsling, close to the league lead at plus-25 on a Florida Panthers team that's on a seven-game winning streak and also hovering among the league leaders. Finally, Vince Dunn is a quiet force on both sides of the puck for the Seattle Kraken, who are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games and have played their way back into the playoff mix.
How about a couple more? If you like familiar faces who have won Norris Trophies, Drew Doughty and Victor Hedman have both been excellent this year. If voted in, it would be the fifth appearance in the 3-on-3 format for Doughty, 34, but his first since 2019. For Hedman, 33, it would be his fourth time at the 3-on-3 All-Star Game. His last participation came in 2022.
Forwards
With the success they've had this year, it's not unreasonable for the Kings to be stumping for a number of their forwards. Along with Doughty, they're campaigning for captain Anze Kopitar and snipers Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala. Then there's breakout local hero Trevor Moore, the Thousand Oaks native who has matched his previous season high of 17 goals in just 35 games this year, leading his team.
The Vancouver Canucks also have a handful of forwards who are all among the league's top scorers and worthy of joining Quinn Hughes in Toronto — sharpshooter Brock Boeser, matchup king J.T. Miller and the sublime Elias Pettersson.
When talking about deep teams with multiple top talents, we can't go far without mentioning Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox with the Rangers — even with Artemi Panarin opting out as he waits for the arrival of his new baby. Then there's Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the Oilers and William Nylander and Mitch Marner, who could join Auston Matthews with the host Leafs.
Other consistently excellent forwards who deserve attention include Mikko Rantanen in Colorado, Jesper Bratt in New Jersey and Jake Guentzel in Pittsburgh.
Goalies
In a perfect world, we vote in some Eastern goalies to join Shesterkin in Toronto. The Florida Panthers have the lowest goals against in the Conference, so why not invite two-time Vezina winner and 2023 Stanley Cup finalist Sergei Bobrovsky to the party for his second appearance? His first came back in 2017, when he went 41-17-5 with Columbus.
And wouldn't it be fun to bring in reigning Vezina titleholder Linus Ullmark and his partner Jeremy Swayman? The ultimate tandem, they deliver great results while splitting the workload in Boston, and those goalie hugs are second-to-none.
Pittsburgh's Tristan Jarry is also a deserving candidate, after his goalie goal earlier this year and with a solid .912 save percentage and 7.3 goals saved above expected, according to moneypuck.com. The only black mark for him is his losing record of 11-12-4.
Charlie Lindgren could have deserved consideration before his injury. Sample sizes seem too small for Jonathan Quick — although he'd be a great story, making just his second all-star appearance — and Martin Jones.
Over in the West, Vancouver's Thatcher Demko is an obvious candidate. He'd also be making his second appearance, after 2022. Cup-winner Adin Hill would be deserving — and it sounds like he's close to getting healthy and returning to action.
Connor Ingram would also be a tremendous feel-good story — a 26-year-old who was picked up on waivers a year ago and has put the Arizona Coyotes into playoff contention after seizing their starting job. And while the Calgary Flames are still trying to get themselves into the playoff mix, Jacob Markstrom has done his bit amid all the turmoil. He sits at a .908 save percentage and 8.4 goals saved above expected this season.