The hometown fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will know exactly who to root for in Saturday afternoon’s NHL All-Star Game, being held at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.
Team Matthews, led by Toronto’s Auston Mattthews and Morgan Rielly, snatched up Maple Leafs teammates William Nylander and Mitch Marner with their first two picks in Thursday’s All-Star player draft.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, the NHL’s leading scorer, went first overall to Team Hughes. That team features every Vancouver Canucks player who was on the team as of Sunday: Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Thatcher Demko, Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller. Elias Lindholm, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames on Monday, was chosen by Team MacKinnon.
Nathan MacKinnon’s first pick was buddy and fellow Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh Penguins star wasn’t able to be at the draft but is arriving later. A young hockey player got to skate up in his place.
Connor McDavid’s team went with a goalie and another Connor, the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck, for its first pick.
This draft was different from previous ones. There was no player sitting there wondering who would be taken last, as Phil Kessel was in the first All-Star draft. There also was no car awarded to the last pick. Instead, the remaining four players – Tomas Hertl, Vincent Trocheck, Frank Vatrano and Oliver Bjorkstrand – chose an envelope from Hall of Famer Dave Keon to let them know their team.
Team MacKinnon will face Team McDavid in the first 20-minute three-on-three game Saturday (3 p.m. ET, ABC), followed by Team Hughes vs. Team Matthews in the second game. The winners will meet in the finale for a winner-take-all, $1 million prize.
Meet the four NHL All-Star Game teams:
TEAM MATTHEWS
(players listed in order chosen by the captains, assistant captains and celebrity captains. Full rosters with jersey numbers)
Captain Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Assistant captain Morgan Rielly, Maple Leafs
Celebrity captain Justin Bieber
F William Nylander, Maple Leafs
F Mitch Marner, Maple Leafs
G Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
F Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes
F Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
G Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
F Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators
F Alex DeBrincat, Detroit Red Wings
F Vincent Trocheck, New York Rangers
TEAM McDAVID
Captain Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Assistant captain Leon Draisaitl, Oilers
Celebrity captain Will Arnett
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
F David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
D Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
F Robert Thomas, St. Louis Blues
F Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers
G Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers
F Boone Jenner, Columbus Blue Jackets
F Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens
F Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
TEAM MacKINNON
Captain Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Assistant captain Cale Makar, Avalanche
Celebrity captain Tate McRae
F Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
G Alexandar Georgiev, Avalanche
F Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
F Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
F Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals
G Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins
F Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
F Elias Lindholm, Canucks
F Oliver Bjorkstrand, Seattle Kraken
TEAM HUGHES
Co-captain Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
Co-captain Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils (injured, won’t play)
Assistant captain Elias Pettersson, Canucks
Celebrity captain Michael Buble
F Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
G Thatcher Demko, Canucks
F Kyle Connor, Jets
F Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
F Jesper Bratt, Devils
G Cam Talbot, Los Angeles Kings
F Brock Boeser, Canucks
F J.T. Miller, Canucks
F Frank Vatrano, Anaheim Ducks
Notes from the All-Star draft
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet will have five of his players on Team Hughes. The other coaching assignments: Bruins’ Jim Montgomery (Team Matthews), Jets’ Rick Bowness (Team MacKinnon) and Rangers’ Peter Laviolette (Team McDavid). … Auston Matthews, known for his moustache, said Filip Forsberg had the NHL’s best one before choosing him. … Connor McDavid called Sergei Bobrovsky ‘Sam’ before quickly correcting himself. To be fair, his team had chosen Florida’s Sam Reinhart with the pick before him. … Team Hughes, which had back-to-back picks in the snake draft, chose forward Brock Boeser before being told they had to take a goalie with the pick. They chose Kings goaltender Cam Talbot, then Boeser. … Team MacKinnon chose Capitals forward Tom Wilson and Flyers forward Travis Konecny, saying it was looking for an ‘agitator.’ … Chicago, Vegas and Calgary have no representatives this weekend because of injuries and because of the Elias Lindholm trade. Lindholm had his new Canucks jersey on at Thursday’s event.