2023 NHL All-Stars: League announces first 32 players, 12 still to come

The NHL announced Thursday evening the first 32 players selected to participate in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.

Initial roster selections were made by the league’s department of hockey operations and represent the first stage of the all-star player selection process before a fan voting portion begins.

One player from each NHL team was selected to these initial rosters to ensure each of the 32 franchises will be represented during all-star weekend in February. The rosters each currently feature seven skaters and one netminder, but teams will end up having nine skaters and two goalies.

Hockey fans will be involved in selecting the remaining 12 all-stars (two skaters and one goaltender per division). This will happen via online voting at the NHL’s website until Jan. 17 – there will also be a Twitter vote using the hashtag #NHLAllStarVote from Jan. 12-14 that’ll count towards the final tally.

The complete rosters will be unveiled on Jan. 19.

Captains for each of the four teams will be selected by the department of hockey operations once the four 11-player rosters are determined. Unlike the 2022 All-Star Game, there is no Last Man In aspect to this year’s fan vote.

“After reviewing campaign data and fan feedback from recent All-Star Fan Vote campaigns, we noted that our fans want the opportunity to have more influence on our all-star roster selection,” NHL chief marketing officer Heidi Browning said Thursday. “We expanded the number of players on the ballots and introduced social voting opportunities for the 2023 (festivities).”

The league has implemented certain requirements for eligible players, perhaps as an effort to avoid having a similar situation to the infamous one involving John Scott being voted into the 2016 All-Star Game. Fans will be able to select from a lengthy list of eligible players that’ll be updated throughout January.

To be considered eligible in 2023, a player must be on an active NHL roster as of Dec. 1 (players who were injured or inactive on Dec. 1 can, however, be added to the ballot once on an active roster). If a player was assigned to the AHL or another affiliate minor league team between Dec. 1 and Feb. 1 for any reason besides a conditioning stint, they are deemed ineligible. If a player that gets voted in ends up as ineligible due to a demotion to a minor league or for any other reason, they will be replaced by the player in their division who receives the next-highest vote total.

This year’s festivities are scheduled take place on the first weekend in February with the All-Star skills competition on Saturday, Feb. 3 and the games on Sunday, Feb. 4.

Central and Pacific division rosters were revealed during the second intermission of the Capitals-Blue Jackets broadcast on Sportsnet ONE, East and Pacific. The initial Atlantic and Metropolitan rosters were announced earlier on Thursday during the first intermission.

CENTRAL DIVISION

Arizona Coyotes - Clayton Keller, F
Chicago Blackhawks - Seth Jones, D
Colorado Avalanche - Cale Makar, D
Dallas Stars - Jason Robertson, F
Minnesota Wild - Kirill Kaprizov, F
Nashville Predators - Jusse Saros, G
St. Louis Blues - Vladimir Tarasenko, F
Winnipeg Jets- Josh Morrissey, D

Notable players not selected to initial Central roster: Jakob Chychrun, Patrick Kane, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Jake Oettinger, Miro Heiskanen, Roman Josi, Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor

PACIFIC DIVISION

Anaheim Ducks - Troy Terry, F
Calgary Flames - Nazem Kadri, F
Edmonton Oilers - Connor McDavid, F
Los Angeles Kings - Kevin Fiala, F
San Jose Sharks - Erik Karlsson, D
Seattle Kraken - Matty Beniers, F
Vancouver Canucks - Elias Pettersson, F
Vegas Golden Knights - Logan Thompson, G

Notable players not selected to initial Pacific roster: Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Anze Kopitar, Timo Meier, Bo Horvat, Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel

The two Western Conference teams aren’t comprised solely of forwards and goalies like their counterparts in the East. The Central was the only division with more than one defenceman selected.

Seattle’s Beniers and Thompson of the Golden Knights were the lone rookies named to any of the initial all-star rosters.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Boston Bruins - Linus Ullmark, G
Buffalo Sabres - Tage Thompson, F
Detroit Red Wings - Dylan Larkin, F
Florida Panthers - Matthew Tkachuk, F
Montreal Canadiens - Nick Suzuki, F
Ottawa Senators - Brady Tkachuk, F
Tampa Bay Lightning - Nikita Kucherov, F
Toronto Maple Leafs - Mitchell Marner, F

Notable players not selected to initial Atlantic roster: Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Rasmus Dahlin, Aleksander Barkov, Cole Caufield, Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Auston Matthews, William Nylander.

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

Carolina Hurricanes - Andrei Svechnikov, F
Columbus Blue Jackets - Johnny Gaudreau, F
New Jersey Devils - Jack Hughes, F
New York Islanders - Brock Nelson, F
New York Rangers - Igor Shesterkin, G
Philadelphia Flyers - Kevin Hayes, F
Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby, F
Washington Capitals - Alex Ovechkin, F

Notable players not selected to initial Metropolitan roster: Dougie Hamilton, Ilya Sorokin, Noah Dobson, Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Travis Konecny, Evgeni Malkin

It’s interesting to note the two East teams boast plenty of offensive firepower, plus the two winningest goalies in the conference, yet zero blueliners were named to either roster.