All-Stars picked for Scotland showcase

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Teams have been picked for this weekend’s All-Star Game, hosted by the Capitals and General Manager John Charles.

Charles said he knows no one plans to get drunk or party this weekend, but in case it comes up in a trivia contest, here is where you can find the best nightlife in Edinburgh.

The results of the voting among GMs shows that putting together a great forward line with good chemistry can get you two or even three all-stars … just like that. The Southern Conference team’s four forward lines come from just four teams: Berlin, Paris, Bern and Milan. In the Northern Conference, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Dublin and Belfast all have at least two forwards playing.

The loudest cheers should come when Edinburgh’s own workhorse right wing Sam Reinhart gets shifts for the Northern Conference.

Sepp Blatter, the league’s director of player safety and discipline, has selected two Scottish-born actors to be the ceremonial coaches. Ewan McGregor, who starred in “The Impossible” and “Black Hawk Down” will be behind the Northern Conference bench. Gerard Butler, star of the movies “300” and “Olympus Has Fallen”, will coach the Southern Conference team. Blatter also announced that following the game, he will be on assignment in Hollywood, Calif., scouting actresses for next year’s game.

Alex Galchenyuk of Prague will be captain of the South team, and London’s 25-year-old center Dominik Lakatos will captain the North. Both were “Commissioner’s Additions” to their teams and they have higher leadership ratings than all others on their teams.

If you are looking for surprises or notable picks among this year’s squads, look at Nathan MacKinnon of Belfast who polled higher than Auston Matthews of Copenhagen. MacKinnon is the only player to have won All-Star Game MVPs honors twice. He won it last season and two years before that. Defenseman Alexei Bereglazov was set to make his first All-Star Game appearance for the South, but then a trade sent him from Kosice to Amsterdam. He will suit up for the other side, thanks to his six games with Ajax.

As for surprises, we will see 6 goalies who didn’t make the team last season. It’s also surprising some “regulars” didn’t make the team this year; people like Ken Kuusk, Maxim Chudinov, Gabriel Landeskog and Jordan Eberle are among them.

Which players have made the most all-star games in our 16 seasons? Here you go:

  1. Erik Karlsson, 11
  2. John Tavares, 10*
  3. Vadim Shipachyov, 9*
  4. Alex Pietrangelo, 9*
  5. Logan Couture, 9*
  6. John Tavares, 9*
  7. Claude Giroux
  8. Steven Stamkos
  9. Jordan Eberle, 8
  10. Adam Henrique, 8
  11. Tyler Myers, 8
  12. Hampus Lindholm, 7*
  13. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7*
  14. Staffan Kronwall, 7*
  15. Michael Del Zotto, 7
  16. Gabriel Landeskog, 7
  17. Evgeny Malkin, 7
  18. Anze Kopitar, 7
  19. Joanthan Toews, 7

*made this year’s team

Here are the Season 16 All-Star Game rosters:

Leave a Reply