The ballots have all been counted and the Pacific Division-leading Calgary Flames will be represented by just one player at the 2019 All-Star Game. Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl won the Pacific Division’s Last Man In balloting, as announced by the National Hockey League on Friday morning.
Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner, Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog, Pittsburgh‘s Kris Letang & Edmonton‘s Leon Draisaitl have been awarded the final roster spots for their respective division as a result of voting in the 2019 #NHLAllStar Last Men In presented by adidas: https://t.co/vBc4LqfsO0 pic.twitter.com/GhjZsjHMK6
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 11, 2019
The Pacific Division team breaks down like this:
- Forwards Johnny Gaudreau (Flames), Leon Draisaitl (Oilers), Clayton Keller (Coyotes), Connor McDavid (Oilers), Joe Pavelski (Sharks), Elias Pettersson (Canucks)
- Defensemen Brent Burns (Sharks), Drew Doughty (Kings) and Erik Karlsson (Sharks)
- Goaltenders Marc-Andre Fleury (Golden Knights) and John Gibson (Ducks)
- Head coach Bill Peters (Flames)
Due to the NHL’s “every team has to have representation” rule, the Flames arguably don’t have the representation you would expect from the division leader. Several high-scoring players from the Pacific are also on the sideline for the event due to this rule including three Flames in the top 20 in league scoring – Sean Monahan (12th), Elias Lindholm (16th) and Matthew Tkachuk (17th).
The All-Star Game is functionally marketing exercise given that it bears no significance to the NHL’s playoffs, but this year’s edition in particular might have a weird look given the players that won’t be at the event.
The All-Star Game goes Saturday, Jan. 26 from San Jose.
