Canadian teams well represented for NHL All-Star weekend

The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs each had two players named to NHL All-Star Weekend.

Oilers captain Connor McDavid will make his fourth all-star appearance after being voted as the captain of the Pacific Division team for the Jan. 24-25 festivities. He will be joined by teammate Leon Draisaitl as the German forward gets a second all-star nod.

They will be joined by forward Matthew Tkachuk — a native of host city St. Louis — and defenceman Mark Giordano of the Flames and forward Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks on the Pacific squad.

Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and forward Mark Scheifele were named to the Central Division squad. Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen and centre Auston Matthews will be joined by Montreal defenceman Shea Weber and Ottawa forward Anthony Duclair on the Atlantic Division squad.

Weber will be making his seventh all-star appearance.

The host Blues will have three players. Captain Alex Pietrangelo, goaltender Jordan Binnington and playoff MVP Ryan O’Reilly will represent the defending Stanley Cup champions. Forward David Perron was not chosen as an all-star despite being in the middle of a career season.

The league’s hockey operations department filled out the all-star rosters beyond the captains voted in by fans.

Washington’s Alex Ovechkin was voted in by fans but opted to skip all-star to rest his body for the stretch drive and playoffs. Capitals teammates John Carlson and Braden Holtby will go instead.

Ovechkin will have to sit out one of Washington’s games <a href=»https://t.co/sawU32CmJv»>https://t.co/sawU32CmJv</a>

&mdash;@FriedgeHNIC

Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane is set to make his ninth all-star appearance, which is the most among active players.

With the skills competition and 3-on-3 tournament more than three weeks away, two all-star selections at goaltender will likely need to be replaced. Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper and Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo are both injured.

Artemi Panarin will represent the New York Rangers after putting up 51 points in his 38 games for them since signing an $81.5-million US, seven-year deal last summer. The rival New York Islanders are sending forward Matthew Barzal.

Six forwards, three defencemen and two goaltenders were picked from each of the four divisions: the Metropolitan, Atlantic, Central and Pacific. All 31 NHL teams needed to be represented on the initial rosters.

Each team has one additional roster spot to be filled in by a fan selection out of a pool of available players.

Montreal forward Max Domi, Ottawa forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Toronto forward Mitch Marner, Winnipeg forward Patrik Laine, Calgary forward Johnny Gaudreau, Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes are among the players available to fill the final roster spots.

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