Sorry to say there won’t be John Scott in the 2017 NHL All-Star Game, but with all the stars on ice this coming weekend, who really needs a John Scott to make the festivities tremendously entertaining?
Just like last year, the format of the event will be the same: a 3-on-3 single-elimination tournament with each team playing two 10-minute halves. Find a brief breakdown of the four teams below.
Team Atlantic is looking to finish better this time around after falling short in the final last year. Look for this team to entertain the crowd and wreak havoc on the ice with the duo of Auston Matthews and Erik Karlsson. Matthews has been on fire in his rookie season while Karlsson will bring his excellent two-way play into the game.
Betting on the Metropolitan Division
A line that features both Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin? You are going to see that terrifying tandem work their craft in the All-Star Game while representing Team Metropolitan. The team, however, is missing Evgeni Malkin, who has declared himself out of the festivities no thanks to a lower-body injury.
In lieu of Malkin is Columbus forward Cam Atkinson, who certainly deserves inclusion in the competition in the first place. Atkinson is eighth in the league in scoring with 46 and second in goals scored with 46. Plus there’s Taylor Hall and John Tavares to make sure there wouldn’t be a shortage of offensive power for Team Metropolitan. The goaltending of this team isn’t too shabby either with Sergei Bobrovsky and Braden Holtby lending their services to the squad.
Betting on the Central Division
If chemistry matters in exhibition games as much as in a regular season contest, Team Central arguably has the advantage among all teams with the trio of Blackhawks taking the ice. Make that a foursome, as Corey Crawford is also one of the two goalies (Devan Dubnyk) working the net for Team Central.
But more than just being a Blackhawks squad masquerading as an All-Star Game unit, this team also has other insane pieces that can whichever opponent it’ll run into in the mini-tournament. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith aside, the team also got Vladimir Tarasenko, Nathan MacKinnon, Tyler Seguin, and Patrik Laine. Laine missed some time this January due to concussion but returned to action on Jan. 24 so it looks like he’ll be there to help Team Central.
Betting on the Pacific Division
Of course aside from the million dollars the winning team will get in this tournament, there’s also pride in play this weekend-. That’s especially true for Team Pacific, who is the defending champion of All-Star Game. Connor McDavid will be a man to watch for Team Pacific along with Johnny Gaudreau, who’ll be an excellent running mate for the Edmonton Oiler. Inset Brent Burns in that line and Team Pacific will have an interesting and dangerous unit for opponents to deal with.
