MINSK, Belarus – The two squads for the Season 9 All-Star Game have been announced, based on voting by general managers.
North Notes: The home fans will have three players to cheer for on the ice in linemates Patrick Kane and Jordan Staal, as well as defenseman Michael Del Zotto. All three were the top vote-getters at their respective positions. The Belfast Giants had the most players (5) voted to the game. Perhaps the biggest surprise selection to the squad is Jyri Marttinen, the Moscow defenseman who seemed to come out of nowhere this season. Among defensemen, the 27-year-old Finn is second in the conference in takeaways and third in blocked shots. He received the 8th-most votes and was placed on the team with a commissioner’s pick. Two Helsinki players narrowly missed making the team. Jared Cowen finished 7th in defenseman voting – one vote behind Justin Faulk of belfast – and Nicklas Backstrom was edged out for the last center spot by teammate Ryan Kesler.
South Stuff: The four centers who were voted onto the Southern Conference team all had their left wings also voted in. John Tavares of Lisbon and Nazem Kadri of Geneva also had their right wings voted in. Steven Stamkos of Lisbon, Alex Pietrangelo of Paris, and Erik Karlsson of Belfast will all be making their 7th All-Star appearances. They join Paris star Evgeny Mallkin, who didn’t make the club this season, as the all-time leaders in all-star game appearances.
Northern Conference
Center
Jordan Staal, Minsk
Matt Duchene, Belfast
Sidney Crosby, Edinburgh (captain)
Ryan Kesler, Helsinki
Jeff Skinner, London*
Left Wing
Gabriel Landeskog, Belfast
Jamie Benn, Edinburgh
Zach Parise, Oslo
Patrik Laine, St. Petersburg
Right Wing
Patrick Kane, Minsk
James Neal, Helsinki
Nathan MacKinnon, Belfast
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Copenhagen
Jordan Eberle, Gothenburg*
Defense
Michael Del Zotto, Minsk
Jack Johnson, Helsinki
Hampus Lindholm, Dublin
Dougie Hamilton, Copenhagen
Erik Karlsson, Belfast
Justin Faulk, Belfast
Jyri Marttinen, Moscow*
Goalie
Simeon Varlamov, St. Petersburg
Cam Talbot, Dublin
Braden Holtby, Stockholm
Coach: Sergei Kostitsyn, played 328 games for Geneva, and 261 for Minsk. He is currently plays in Vitebsk, Minsk’s farm club.
*Commissioner’s pick to make sure every team is represented. Players must have received votes from other GMs.
Others who received votes: Copenhagen: Brandon Dubinsky, Andres De La Garma; Dublin: Patric Hornquist, Cody Hodgson, Brad Marchand; Edinburgh: Adam Larsson, Andy Sertich, Drew Stafford; Gothenburg: Oscar Klefbom; Helsinki: Jared Cowen, Nicklas Backstrom, Brendan Gallagher, Brock Boeser, Matt Dumba; London: Phil Kessel, Dominik Lakatos, Brandon Saad; Minsk: Milan Lucic, Maxim Chudinov; Moscow: Jiri Tlusty, Trevor Van Riemsdyk; Oslo: Zach Werenski, Tyler Seguin, Shayne Gostisbehere, Viktor Antipin; St. Petersburg: Sergei Mozyakin, Ryan Callahan; Stockholm: Mats Zuccarello, Blake Wheeler
Southern Conference
Center
John Tavares, Lisbon
Nazem Kadri, Geneva
Jonathan Toews, Bratislava
Logan Couture, Athens
Left Wing
Bobby Ryan, Geneva
Colin Wilson, Athens
Alexander Ovechkin, Bratislava (captain)
Steven Stamkos, Lisbon
Right Wing
David Perron, Geneva
Vadim Shipachyov, Berlin
Niklas Danielsson, Lisbon
Corey Perry, Paris
Mark Stone, Bern*
Defense
Alex Pietrangelo, Paris
Tyler Myers, Bratislava
Jake Muzzin, Milan
P.K. Subban, Madrid
Erik Johnson, Athens
Keith Yandle, Geneva
Dmitry Kulikov, Prague*
Andrej Meszaros, Munich*
Goalie
Jimmy Howard, Athens
Carey Price, Zurich
Tuukka Rask, Paris
*Commissioner’s pick to make sure every team is represented. Players must have received votes from other GMs.
Coach: Andrei Kostitsyn, played 313 games for Edinburgh, 164 for Bern and 81 for Prague. He is currently an unsigned free agent.
Others who received votes: Athens: Alexander Edler, Tomas Vincour, Anze Kopitar; Berlin: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Staffan Kronwall, Tyler Ennis; Bern: Kevin Shattenkirk, T.J. Brodie, Cam Atkinson, Wayne Simmonds; Bratislava: Milan Gulas, Tyler Toffoli; Geneva: Colton Parayko, Frederik Andersen, Patrick Wiercioch, Dylan Larkin, Riley Sheahan; Lisbon: Drew Doughty; Madrid: Evander Kane, Derek Stepan, Craig Smith; Milan: Danny Dekeyser; Paris: Kris Letang, Josef Vasicek, Giulio Scandella, Evgeny Malkin, Bryan Little; Prague: Nail Yakupov, Miro Aaltonen; Zurich: Jacob Trouba, Charlie McAvoy
