Ryan O'Reilly, Alex Pietrangelo and Jordan Binnington helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup for the first time last season. The three will be in the spotlight again when the Blues host the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game at Enterprise Center on Jan. 25 (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
O'Reilly, Pietrangelo and Binnington were named to the Central Division All-Star Team by the NHL Hockey Operations Department on Monday.
Tied with Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz for second on St. Louis with 34 points (eight goals, 26 assists), O'Reilly will play in his third All-Star Game. When the 28-year-old center was named as the Blues' lone representative in the 2019 All-Star Game on Jan. 2 of last season, they were in last place in the League standings.
[RELATED: 2020 NHL All-Star Game coverage]
This season, the Blues (26-8-6) lead the Western Conference with 58 points and have won their past eight games.
Pietrangelo, who scored the winning goal in St. Louis' 4-1 victory against the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, will make his second All-Star Game appearance after playing in the 2018 game. The 29-year-old is tied with Shea Weber of the Montreal Canadiens for fifth among defensemen with 31 points (10 goal, 21 assists).
"It's special, especially to have that opportunity with [the game] being in St. Louis," Pietrangelo told the Blues website. "It's a pretty special deal to be able to do this at home, and it's going to be more fun sharing the opportunity with my family."
Binnington will play in his first All-Star Game. The 26-year-old goalie didn't make his first NHL start until Jan. 7 of last season. This season, he's tied with Frederik Andersen of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the League lead with 19 wins (19-6-4) and has 2.39 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and one shutout.
The Washington Capitals (27-8-5), who lead Metropolitan Division and the NHL with 59 points, had two players selected. John Carlson, who leads NHL defensemen with 50 points (13 goals, 37 assists) will make his second All-Star Game appearance and goalie Braden Holtby will make his fifth. Forward Alex Ovechkin was voted captain of the Metropolitan Division team but announced Saturday he will not attend All-Star Weekend to rest in preparation for the remainder of the season.
"Yeah. That's obviously no surprise to anyone," Holtby said of Carlson's selection. "It's good. It's fun to share it with him and spend some time with him. He's obviously having an unbelievable season. So, he's got some pressure on him now for the hardest shot again."
Other teams with two All-Star Game representatives are the Boston Bruins (forward David Pastrnak, goalie Tuukka Rask) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (Andersen, forward Auston Matthews) in the Atlantic Division, Calgary Flames (defenseman Mark Giordano, forward Matthew Tkachuk) and the Edmonton Oilers (forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl) in the Pacific Division, the Winnipeg Jets (forward Mark Scheifele, goalie Connor Hellebuyck) in the Central Division and the Columbus Blue Jackets (defenseman Seth Jones, goalie Joonas Korpisalo) in the Metropolitan Division.
It would be the first All-Star Game appearance for Korpisalo, but he is out "weeks," according to Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, after he was injured during Columbus' 3-2 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. Arizona Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper also was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time but is out week to week with a lower-body injury he sustained against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 20.
Nine of the top 10 in the NHL in points were selected to play in this season's All-Star Game: McDavid (63), Draisaitl (61), Pastrnak (58), Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon (56), Florida Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau (53), Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel (52), New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin (51), Carlson (50) and Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane (47).
Kane will play in his ninth All-Star Game, the most in this season's game. Weber will make his seventh appearance.
Andersen, Binnington, Huberdeau, Korpisalo, Kuemper, and Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny are among 13 players selected to play in the All-Star Game for the first time.
"It's pretty fresh so it hasn't really settled in yet," Konecny said. "It's something that you don't really think about it until it kind of happens. When you make the NHL that's one of the first steps, you want to be successful and win the Stanley Cup with your team but you don't really think about the All-Star Game. Now that it's come up it's pretty amazing. Got a lot of people to thank for it."
MacKinnon (Central), Pastrnak (Atlantic), and McDavid (Pacific) were voted captains of their respective divisions by the fans.
An additional player from each division will be added to the All-Star rosters through the 2020 NHL All-Star Last Men In presented by adidas fan vote. Each of the 31 NHL teams are represented on the Last Men In ballot.
The coach of the team with the highest points percentage in each division at the halfway point of the regular season will coach their division's All-Star team.
Each division will have one more player added to its roster by the 2020 NHL All-Star Last Men In presented by adidas fan vote. The player with the most votes from each of the four divisions will be added to the All-Star Game rosters.
Voting for the Last Men In opens Wednesday, Jan. 1, at 12 p.m. ET and closes Friday, Jan. 10, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Fans can vote at NHL.com/Vote or on a mobile interactive ballot on the NHL app.
The 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend will again consist of a three-game tournament, played in a 3-on-3 format, featuring four teams, one for each NHL division.
The 2020 NHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place at Enterprise Center on Jan. 24 (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS), one day before the game.
Here are the rosters:
Atlantic Division (All-Star appearance)
F Tyler Bertuzzi, DET (1st)
F Anthony Duclair, OTT (1st)
F Jack Eichel, BUF (3rd)
F Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA (1st)
F Auston Matthews, TOR (4th)
F David Pastrnak, BOS (2nd)*
D Victor Hedman, TBL (3rd)
D Shea Weber, MTL (7th)
G Frederik Andersen, TOR (1st)
G Tuukka Rask, BOS (2nd)
Metropolitan Division (All-Star appearance)
F Mathew Barzal, NYI (2nd)
F Jake Guentzel, PIT (1st)
F Kyle Palmieri, NJD (2nd)
F Artemi Panarin, NYR (1st)
F Travis Konecny, PHI (1st)
D John Carlson, WSH (2nd)
D Dougie Hamilton, CAR (1st)
D Seth Jones, CBJ (3rd)
G Braden Holtby, WSH (5th)
G Joonas Korpisalo, CBJ (1st)
Central Division (All-Star appearance)
F Patrick Kane, CHI (9th)
F Nathan MacKinnon, COL (4th)*
F Ryan O'Reilly, STL (3rd)
F Mark Scheifele, WPG (2nd)
F Tyler Seguin, DAL (6th)
F Eric Staal, MIN (6th)
D Roman Josi, NSH (3rd)
D Alex Pietrangelo, STL (2nd)
G Jordan Binnington, STL (1st)
G Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (2nd)
Pacific Division (All-Star appearance)
F Logan Couture, SJS (2nd)
F Leon Draisaitl, EDM (2nd)
F Anze Kopitar, LAK (5th)
F Connor McDavid, EDM (4th)*
F Elias Pettersson, VAN (2nd)
F Jakob Silfverberg, ANA (1st)
F Matthew Tkachuk, CGY (1st)
D Marc Giordano, CGY (3rd)
G Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK (5th)
G Darcy Kuemper, ARI (1st)
* Fan-elected captain
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