This past Tuesday (November 6th), the NHL released the list of players who will appear on this year's All- Star ballot. Voting begins on November 13th and runs through January 2nd, where fans will have the opportunity to select six players from each conference.
Below is the list of players on this year's ballot.
Eastern Conference
Goaltenders
Martin Biron, Philadelphia Flyers
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Rick DiPietro, New York Islanders
Ray Emery, Ottawa Senators
Cristobal Huet, Montreal Canadiens
Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
Tomas Vokoun, Florida Panthers
Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes
Defencemen
Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers
Dan Boyle, Tampa Bay Lightning
Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
Bryan McCabe, Toronto Maple Leafs
Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators
Wade Redden, Ottawa Senators
Henrik Tallinder, Buffalo Sabres
Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers
Ryan Whitney, Pittsburgh Penguins
Forwards
Maxim Afinogenov, Buffalo Sabres
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
Jason Blake, Toronto Maple Leafs
Daniel Briere, Philadelphia Flyers
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Chris Drury, New York Rangers
Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils
Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers
Brian Gionta, New Jersey Devils
Scott Gomez, New York Rangers
Bill Guerin, New York Islanders
Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
Marian Hossa, Atlanta Thrashers
Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers
Olli Jokinen, Florida Panthers
Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
Slava Kozlov, Atlanta Thrashers
Vincent LeCavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning
Martin St Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Marc Savard, Boston Bruins
Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers
Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs
Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres
Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes
Western Conference
Goaltenders
Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild
Jean Sebastien Giguere, Anaheim Ducks
Dominik Hasek, Detroit Red Wings
Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago Blackhawks
Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames
Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets
Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks
Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
Defencemen
Francois Beauchemin, Anaheim Ducks
Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
Scott Hannan, Colorado Avalanche
Ed Jovanovski, Phoenix Coyotes
Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver Canucks
Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
Chris Pronger, Anaheim Ducks
Brian Rafalski, Detroit Red Wings
Robyn Regehr, Calgary Flames
Sheldon Souray, Edmonton Oilers
Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles Kings
Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars
Forwards
Jason Arnott, Nashville Predators
Mike Cammalleri, Los Angeles Kings
Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes
Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks
Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche
Ales Hemsky, Edmonton Oilers
Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
Paul Kariya St. Louis Blues
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Daymond Langkow, Calgary Flames
David Legwand, Nashville Predators
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Andy McDonald, Anaheim Ducks
Mike Modano, Dallas Stars
Brendan Morrow, Dallas Stars
Rick Nash Columbus, Blue Jackets
Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks
Brian Rolston, Minnesota Wild
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Smyth, Colorado Avalanche
Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche
Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
Note- Each NHL team has at least two players on the ballot.
Entering only the sixth week of the 2007-2008 NHL campaign, it is still too early to determine who is most likely to make it to the game in Atlanta. After all, voting hasn't even started yet and runs until January. However, that doesn't mean that NHL hockey fans haven't taken notice to some of the most dominant players thus far.
Let's first take a look at some of the standouts from the eastern conference.
Eastern Conference:
Martin Gerber (who does not appear on this year's ballot) couldn't have asked for a better start to begin his second year in Ottawa. After struggling last season and losing the starter's role to Ray Emery, the Senators were looking for the quickest way to send Gerber (and his $3.7 million salary) out of town. Finishing last season 24th in GAA and 25th in Sv% among goalies, Gerber has rebounded as if he came off the worst relationship known to man. Currently sitting 4th in Sv% (.941), 6th in GAA (1.80) and leading the league with 10 wins, Gerber's value has taken off exponentially. You could easily make a case that his 10 wins are more due to the dominant play of the players in front of him, but the fact remains that numbers don't lie. Gerber deserves (so far) to be one of the goaltenders heading to Atlanta, yet he doesn't even appear on the ballot. Yeesh, when will this guy catch a break?
On the back end, look no further than Andrei Markov leading the way. The Russian defencemen who came off a career year last season signed a 4 year deal with the Habs this past summer, and is proving his worth thus far. Third in defencemen scoring, Markov is turning heads as one of the up and coming premier blueliners in the NHL. Tomas Kaberle and Sergei Gonchar have also put up a stellar six weeks, with 12 and 15 points respectively.
Up front, the eastern conference is loaded with skilled forwards, most of whom you could make a case to get their ticket punched to Atlanta. However, with only 3 votes allocated to the forward position, fans will have to choose wisely. Well, look no further then 'Sid the Kid', who is quietly shedding the reputation from a year ago of, well... a whiny kid. Leading the Pens as captain and leading the eastern conference scoring race with 24 points, Sidney Crosby should be a shoe in to this year's All-Star game, especially since he has become the new face of the NHL.
Although not the 'ageless wonder' Chris Chelios, Mats Sundin continues to prove his dominance at 36 years old. Tied for 3rd in league scoring and tied for first in +/- amongst forwards, Mats Sundin deserves to be at the 2008 All-Star game thus far. The biggest question will be if he can stay healthy and keep up his quick start to the 2007-2008 campaign.
After a slow start, Ilya Kovalchuk has made up for lost time notching 8 goals and 10 points in his last four games, while leading the league in goals with 14. Playing for a team struggling in the win column, Kovalchuk may be one of Atlanta's lone bright spots this season, and Atlanta's fans (or lack thereof) deserve to see him represent their hometown team....no matter how bad Atlanta will finish.
Props go out to: Rod Brind'Amour, Henrik Lundqvist, Vinny Lecavalier, Daniel Alfredsson, Alex Ovechkin, and Brian Campbell.
The well deserved write- in: Martin Gerber
Western Conference:
Switching gears to out west, Pascal Leclaire is having a Vezina-like trophy season leading the league with 5 shutouts in 10 games, and 2nd in GAA (1.40) and a sparkling .948 save percentage. Pascal who? Yes, I would have been asking the same question 6 weeks ago.
On the blueline, is there anyone better than Nicklas Lidstrom? This is a guy who year in and year out, has been the steadiest blueliner in the past 10 years. Leading all defencemen with a +13 rating, and tied for first in scoring by defencemen, " Norris Nick" as some call him, should have no problem getting to Atlanta. You could argue the case for about 4-5 other blueliners playing alongside Lidstrom in Atlanta, including Chris Pronger, but his teammate Brian Rafalski isn't playing too bad for a guy the New Jersey Devils let walk as a free agent; 13 points and a +7 rating through 16 games isn't too shabby if you ask me.
Last, but certainly not least, the western conference also has its fair share of talented forwards. Look no further than the likes of Zetterberg, Datsyuk,
Iginla, Cammalleri, etc... the list goes on. However, I think most fans (i.e, 99%) know that Henrik Zetterberg has dominated like no other this season, notching 26 points in 16 games, while tied for 1st in +/- among forwards with fellow Swede Mats Sundin. This season could potentially be the coming out party for Zetterberg as one of the league's most dominant scorers.
For the other two forward spots, Jarome Iginla and Paul Statsny have led their teams in points thus far, but look for players such as the two Joe's (Thornton and Sakic) to begin heating up towards the end of the month. Despite each having 17 points in 16 games, the Joe's will find themselves in Atlanta, although it won't be at the expense of Jarome Iginla, who is leading the Flames in goals, points, +/-, and shots on goal. Talk about a leader.
Props go out to: Chris Osgood, Patrick Kane, Alex Tanguay, Mike Ribeiro, Rick Nash, and Dion Phaneuf.
The well deserved write-in: Chris Osgood
Keep in mind NHL voting hasn't started yet, and goes on until January, so things could change in a hurry. However, no matter who ends up in Atlanta from the above ballot, I'm sure we are all in for a treat when the NHL's best take the ice for the 56th annual all-star game.
Cheers for reading, and always remember: the puck stops here.
To reach Christos, send an email to christos10@gmail.com
Below is the list of players on this year's ballot.
Eastern Conference
Goaltenders
Martin Biron, Philadelphia Flyers
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Rick DiPietro, New York Islanders
Ray Emery, Ottawa Senators
Cristobal Huet, Montreal Canadiens
Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
Tomas Vokoun, Florida Panthers
Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes
Defencemen
Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers
Dan Boyle, Tampa Bay Lightning
Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
Bryan McCabe, Toronto Maple Leafs
Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators
Wade Redden, Ottawa Senators
Henrik Tallinder, Buffalo Sabres
Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers
Ryan Whitney, Pittsburgh Penguins
Forwards
Maxim Afinogenov, Buffalo Sabres
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
Jason Blake, Toronto Maple Leafs
Daniel Briere, Philadelphia Flyers
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Chris Drury, New York Rangers
Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils
Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers
Brian Gionta, New Jersey Devils
Scott Gomez, New York Rangers
Bill Guerin, New York Islanders
Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
Marian Hossa, Atlanta Thrashers
Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers
Olli Jokinen, Florida Panthers
Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
Slava Kozlov, Atlanta Thrashers
Vincent LeCavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning
Martin St Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Marc Savard, Boston Bruins
Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers
Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs
Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres
Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes
Western Conference
Goaltenders
Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild
Jean Sebastien Giguere, Anaheim Ducks
Dominik Hasek, Detroit Red Wings
Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago Blackhawks
Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames
Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets
Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks
Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
Defencemen
Francois Beauchemin, Anaheim Ducks
Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
Scott Hannan, Colorado Avalanche
Ed Jovanovski, Phoenix Coyotes
Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver Canucks
Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
Chris Pronger, Anaheim Ducks
Brian Rafalski, Detroit Red Wings
Robyn Regehr, Calgary Flames
Sheldon Souray, Edmonton Oilers
Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles Kings
Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars
Forwards
Jason Arnott, Nashville Predators
Mike Cammalleri, Los Angeles Kings
Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes
Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks
Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche
Ales Hemsky, Edmonton Oilers
Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
Paul Kariya St. Louis Blues
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Daymond Langkow, Calgary Flames
David Legwand, Nashville Predators
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Andy McDonald, Anaheim Ducks
Mike Modano, Dallas Stars
Brendan Morrow, Dallas Stars
Rick Nash Columbus, Blue Jackets
Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks
Brian Rolston, Minnesota Wild
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Smyth, Colorado Avalanche
Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche
Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
Note- Each NHL team has at least two players on the ballot.
The Picks
Entering only the sixth week of the 2007-2008 NHL campaign, it is still too early to determine who is most likely to make it to the game in Atlanta. After all, voting hasn't even started yet and runs until January. However, that doesn't mean that NHL hockey fans haven't taken notice to some of the most dominant players thus far.
Let's first take a look at some of the standouts from the eastern conference.
Eastern Conference:
Martin Gerber (who does not appear on this year's ballot) couldn't have asked for a better start to begin his second year in Ottawa. After struggling last season and losing the starter's role to Ray Emery, the Senators were looking for the quickest way to send Gerber (and his $3.7 million salary) out of town. Finishing last season 24th in GAA and 25th in Sv% among goalies, Gerber has rebounded as if he came off the worst relationship known to man. Currently sitting 4th in Sv% (.941), 6th in GAA (1.80) and leading the league with 10 wins, Gerber's value has taken off exponentially. You could easily make a case that his 10 wins are more due to the dominant play of the players in front of him, but the fact remains that numbers don't lie. Gerber deserves (so far) to be one of the goaltenders heading to Atlanta, yet he doesn't even appear on the ballot. Yeesh, when will this guy catch a break?
On the back end, look no further than Andrei Markov leading the way. The Russian defencemen who came off a career year last season signed a 4 year deal with the Habs this past summer, and is proving his worth thus far. Third in defencemen scoring, Markov is turning heads as one of the up and coming premier blueliners in the NHL. Tomas Kaberle and Sergei Gonchar have also put up a stellar six weeks, with 12 and 15 points respectively.
Up front, the eastern conference is loaded with skilled forwards, most of whom you could make a case to get their ticket punched to Atlanta. However, with only 3 votes allocated to the forward position, fans will have to choose wisely. Well, look no further then 'Sid the Kid', who is quietly shedding the reputation from a year ago of, well... a whiny kid. Leading the Pens as captain and leading the eastern conference scoring race with 24 points, Sidney Crosby should be a shoe in to this year's All-Star game, especially since he has become the new face of the NHL.Although not the 'ageless wonder' Chris Chelios, Mats Sundin continues to prove his dominance at 36 years old. Tied for 3rd in league scoring and tied for first in +/- amongst forwards, Mats Sundin deserves to be at the 2008 All-Star game thus far. The biggest question will be if he can stay healthy and keep up his quick start to the 2007-2008 campaign.
After a slow start, Ilya Kovalchuk has made up for lost time notching 8 goals and 10 points in his last four games, while leading the league in goals with 14. Playing for a team struggling in the win column, Kovalchuk may be one of Atlanta's lone bright spots this season, and Atlanta's fans (or lack thereof) deserve to see him represent their hometown team....no matter how bad Atlanta will finish.
Props go out to: Rod Brind'Amour, Henrik Lundqvist, Vinny Lecavalier, Daniel Alfredsson, Alex Ovechkin, and Brian Campbell.
The well deserved write- in: Martin Gerber
Western Conference:
Switching gears to out west, Pascal Leclaire is having a Vezina-like trophy season leading the league with 5 shutouts in 10 games, and 2nd in GAA (1.40) and a sparkling .948 save percentage. Pascal who? Yes, I would have been asking the same question 6 weeks ago.
On the blueline, is there anyone better than Nicklas Lidstrom? This is a guy who year in and year out, has been the steadiest blueliner in the past 10 years. Leading all defencemen with a +13 rating, and tied for first in scoring by defencemen, " Norris Nick" as some call him, should have no problem getting to Atlanta. You could argue the case for about 4-5 other blueliners playing alongside Lidstrom in Atlanta, including Chris Pronger, but his teammate Brian Rafalski isn't playing too bad for a guy the New Jersey Devils let walk as a free agent; 13 points and a +7 rating through 16 games isn't too shabby if you ask me.
Last, but certainly not least, the western conference also has its fair share of talented forwards. Look no further than the likes of Zetterberg, Datsyuk,
Iginla, Cammalleri, etc... the list goes on. However, I think most fans (i.e, 99%) know that Henrik Zetterberg has dominated like no other this season, notching 26 points in 16 games, while tied for 1st in +/- among forwards with fellow Swede Mats Sundin. This season could potentially be the coming out party for Zetterberg as one of the league's most dominant scorers.
For the other two forward spots, Jarome Iginla and Paul Statsny have led their teams in points thus far, but look for players such as the two Joe's (Thornton and Sakic) to begin heating up towards the end of the month. Despite each having 17 points in 16 games, the Joe's will find themselves in Atlanta, although it won't be at the expense of Jarome Iginla, who is leading the Flames in goals, points, +/-, and shots on goal. Talk about a leader.
Props go out to: Chris Osgood, Patrick Kane, Alex Tanguay, Mike Ribeiro, Rick Nash, and Dion Phaneuf.
The well deserved write-in: Chris Osgood
Keep in mind NHL voting hasn't started yet, and goes on until January, so things could change in a hurry. However, no matter who ends up in Atlanta from the above ballot, I'm sure we are all in for a treat when the NHL's best take the ice for the 56th annual all-star game.
Cheers for reading, and always remember: the puck stops here.
To reach Christos, send an email to christos10@gmail.com
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