Johnny Gaudreau has been in the NHL for four seasons. He is also going to the NHL All-Star game for the fourth season in a row, this time as the Flames’ lone representative.
The Pacific Division team is made up primarily of Kings and Golden Knights players, which, when you look at the divisional standings, makes sense: those teams both have an easy lead in the standings.
Here’s the entire Pacific Division team. Gaudreau the lone #Flames representative. pic.twitter.com/2YmTDbp4aK
— Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) January 10, 2018
It’s a requirement that every single team be represented at the All-Star Game, so that the Flames have just one representative isn’t really much of a snub: six of the eight Pacific teams only have one player going.
Gaudreau, with 13 goals and 49 points in 42 games this season, leads his team in scoring by 10 points, and is ninth league-wide in scoring. He’ll almost certainly have broken the 50-point marker by the All-Star Game (at least, we should very well hope so). He’s a true offensive force in the NHL, and has been his entire career: hence his attending the festivities every single year, not to mention his career 253 points in 274 games.
There do look to be a couple of obvious snubs on the Flames end of things: Sean Monahan and Mike Smith.
Monahan, who reached the 20-goal plateau against the Wild, has the third most goals out of anyone in the Pacific, with just William Karlsson and Brock Boeser ahead of him. Karlsson isn’t attending, and Monahan has as 10 more points than James Neal does. If you’re going strictly by points, any of Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, or Monahan would make more sense than Neal: two Vegas options that wouldn’t even see a heavy expansion team representation interrupted.
As for Smith, his .921 save percentage this season is below both Marc-Andre Fleury and Jonathan Quick’s, though Fleury has only played 12 games due to injury. Granted, they’ve been a good 12 games apparently, but uh. If the NHL was going by goalies with a large workload and high save percentage, then John Gibson would probably make more sense. And is it not in the Flames’ interests that Smith gets time off rather than partakes in festivities, considering his massive workload through the first half of the season?
No surprise there. Only Flame in my opinion. I really hope he boycotts though in protest of not going to the olympics.
Even the players understand that it makes no sense for the league to shut down for two weeks so that it’s best players can go all the way to Korea to risk injury and battle jet lag. The league and the teams would be taking a huge risk with very little reward.
Ahhh, the ol’ “me-first” mentality.
You mean the one where people think the players should play for them? “Me first” indeed. It’s not war, it’s entertainment.
Lol playing for your country …. very little reward ? REAL OLYMPIONS competing against the worlds best is the Reward Fame and glory . You must not be from Canada 🇨🇦
I’m not talking about rewards for players. Obviously every athlete would do anything to play for their country. I’m talking about the owners who spend millions and millions of dollars… I can’t imagine murray Edwards would would be overly pleased if gaudreau broke is leg at the Olympics, and the flames miss the playoffs as a result. For the NHL owners, it is all risk and no reward.
Random Sean Monahan fact: absolutely not sad at all not to be chosen for the stupid all-star game. Would rather spend the break with his fiancé and new dog. Feels bad Johnny has to go.
Well deserved again.
All Star game is a complete joke. Bettman is POS.
Mcmurray is a pos
file this one in the “who cares” file… while i am sure it can be fun to go, it’s no insult or slam… rather have him home resting and send as few as possible.
Just hoping Gaudreau gets more confidence through the experience.
I think he usually comes back from the break hot. Hope it keeps him fired up til June!
Johnny deserves the recognition. What’s interesting to me is Burns has the most selections at 5. Seems like there are more new(er) names in the Pacific this season.
How are All Stars chosen?
Voters were asked to select a captain for each divisional team, which is what the public will be voting on through Jan. 1. They also went a step further and picked the 11-player team for each of the four divisions. Four writers/editors were assigned to each of the four divisions; each named six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies to represent that division. The panel ranked the forwards 1-6, the defensemen 1-3 and the goalies as one or two. Cumulative vote totals determined who made the list and where they were placed. Ties were broken by the player who appeared on more ballots. Each team must be represented.
Fans can have their say as well with the NHL All-Star Fan Vote. The top vote-getter in each division will be named that team’s captain, and the NHL Hockey Operations staff will pick the remaining players for the game, which will be held at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Jan. 28.
https://www.nhl.com/news/2018-all-star-rosters-nhl-dot-com-staff-picks/c-293598324
Coin toss
Good for Johnny but who really cares. I won’t spend anytime worrying about it or watching it.
Heat up 1-0. Goloubef from Kylington and Findlay.
My 10 year old is really excited for the all star game. That must be the market they are aiming for.
Stajan snubbed again😭
Heat lose 4-2.
Hopefully Parsons gets a game in this weekend
Johnny goes to all-star games and has some fun. Put him on a line with McD and watch McD score with abandon. Only times he will have legitimate linemates is in all-star games!
Is this the only photo on file of Jonathan ice hockey?
Of topic slightly, but I just Mason Raymond got named to the Olympic team. Great for him! Rene Bourque being named,ummm…