NHL announces 2016 All-Star rosters; who got snubbed?

The NHL announced its All Star captains on Saturday with Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane and John Scott getting on the honors.

On Wednesday, the remaining 40 All Stars were revealed as the league presents its new 3-on-3 tournament format later this month in Nashville.

 

Here are your rosters representing the Metropolitan, Atlantic, Central and Pacific Divisions.

 

METRO

Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Brandon Saad, Columbus Blue Jackets
John Tavares, New York Islanders
Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins
Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils

Malkin, Ovechkin, Letang would make for a fine top line.

 

ATLANTIC

Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Jaromir Jagr, Florida Panthers
Leo Komarov, Toronto Maple Leafs
Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
Ryan O’Reilly, Buffalo Sabres
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens
Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning
Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers

Subban and Karlsson running the show from the back with Stamkos waiting for a one-timer? Yes, please.

 

CENTRAL

Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues
Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets
Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Wild
Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators

Is the Central the current frontrunner? There are so many dangerous trios you could form from this group.

 

PACIFIC

Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers
Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks
Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
John Scott, Arizona Coyotes
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Gibson over perhaps someone like Martin Jones is a bit surprising. But this group has John Scott, so they might have some fans at Bridgestone Arena in their favor.

 

Gerald Gallant of the Florida Panthers, Barry Trotz of the Washington Capitals, Lindy Ruff of the Dallas Stars and Darryl Sutter of the Los Angeles Kings will be the head coaches for their respective divisions.

The Metro will play the Atlantic and the Central will face off against the Pacific in two 20-minute semifinals. The winners will play in the final with $1 million at stake.

Now, as is tradition, we have to look at which players got snubbed. Given the new format, there were bound of be a good number of deserved players who didn’t get the call, and this year was certainly the case.

 

The Panthers, Capitals and host Predators each have three representatives in the tournament, and seeing as how competitive the Central Division is, well, sorry to these three guys who might have garnered more consideration in the old format:

 

Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets, 40 points, top 10 in scoring
John Klingberg, Dallas Stars, 38 points, second in scoring among defensemen
Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks, 36 points, leads all rookies in scoring

 

Other players who missed out, but could also be called up upon if injury strikes:

 

Mike Hoffman, Ottawa Senators, 19 goals
Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks, 21 wins, leads all goalies in shutouts with six
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, for star power is finally scoring again on the regular
Max Domi, Arizona Coyotes, second in rookie scoring, probably misses because of John Scott
Tyler Toffoli, LA Kings, 19 goals

Who do you think got snubbed the most?