Stars from across the NHL will shine in the All-Star festivities this weekend. The fun kicks off Friday with the skills competition and continues Saturday with the three-on-three tournament that takes the place of a more traditional game.
From big names like Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid to players on the rise like Cale Makar and Jack Hughes, a royal flush of talent will descend on the Las Vegas Strip. This week’s power rankings highlight an interesting stat for an All-Star representative from each team.
Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports
32. Montreal Canadiens
Last week: 32
Record: 8-29-7
Nick Suzuki. No Canadiens player has reached double digits in goals so far this season; Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson all have nine.
31. Arizona Coyotes
Last Week: 31
Record: 11-29-4
Clayton Keller. Heading into his second All-Star appearance, the 23-year-old center is on a five-game point streak with six (two goals, four assists).
30. Philadelphia Flyers
Last week: 30
Record: 15-22-8
Claude Giroux. The Flyers’ captain is second in franchise history with 893 points, 605 assists and 985 games played, only trailing Philadelphia legend Bobby Clarke in all three categories.
29. Buffalo Sabres
Last week: 29
Record: 14-24-7
Rasmus Dahlin. In his fourth season, the 21-year-old two-way defenseman is on pace to far surpass his previous career highs in goals, assists, blocks and hits.
28. New Jersey Devils
Last week: 24
Record: 15-25-5
Jack Hughes. The 20-year-old center’s most recent goal, which came in Tuesday’s 7–1 loss to the Maple Leafs, pushed him to a career-high 12 goals on the season, surpassing his 11 from last year and seven from his rookie campaign.
27. Detroit Red Wings
Last week: 25
Record: 20-20-6
Dylan Larkin. As a rookie in 2016, Larkin set the record of 13.172 seconds in All-Star weekend’s fastest skater competition. He’ll look to break that mark in his first All-Star appearance since then.
26. Seattle Kraken
Last week: 28
Record: 14-27-4
Jordan Eberle. The top-line winger snapped an eight-game point drought with an assist in Sunday’s 3–2 loss to the Rangers, but he again failed to record a point in Tuesday’s 3–2 loss to the Bruins.
25. Columbus Blue Jackets
Last week: 27
Record: 20-22-1
Zach Werenski. The defenseman averages 26:04 minutes per game, which is four minutes more than anyone else on the Blue Jackets and fourth-most in the league.
24. Ottawa Senators
Last week: 26
Record: 14-22-4
Brady Tkachuk. A replacement for injured teammate Drake Batherson, the forward will play in his second All-Star game—but unlike in his first appearance in 2020, he won’t be joined by his brother Matthew, a Flames forward who lost the Pacific Division’s “Last Man In” vote to Anaheim’s Troy Terry.
23. Chicago Blackhawks
Last week: 23
Record: 16-22-7
Alex DeBrincat. With two goals and an assist against the Red Wings on Jan. 26, the Michigan native now has 23 points total in 16 career games against Detroit.
22. San Jose Sharks
Last week: 21
Record: 22-20-4
Timo Meier. Since his five-goal explosion against the Kings on Jan. 17, Meier has just one goal in six games (and none in the last five). Could his first All-Star appearance provide a spark?
21 New York Islanders
Last week: 20
Record: 16-16-6
Adam Pelech. Known for his elite defense, Pelech nonetheless managed to contribute offensively in the Islanders’ two most recent games, with an assist in Sunday’s 4–3 loss to the Wild and a goal in Tuesday’s 4–1 win against the Senators.
20. Vancouver Canucks
Last week: 22
Record: 20-20-6
Thatcher Demko. The 26-year-old netminder won seven starts in a row after Bruce Boudreau took the reins as head coach in December, but then he hit a rough patch with three straight losses. Now he’s finding his footing again, with a .936 save percentage in his last four starts.
19. Winnipeg Jets
Last week: 18
Record: 18-17-7
Kyle Connor. After notching a goal and an assist in the Jets’ 4–1 win against the Blues on Saturday, Connor has 18 points in 13 career games against St. Louis. He only has more against the Canucks (22 points in 19 games).
18. Edmonton Oilers
Last week: 19
Record: 22-16-3
Connor McDavid. A three-time winner of the fastest skater competition during the All-Star weekend, McDavid will look to reclaim the title and surpass Hall of Famer Mike Gartner in career wins in the event. McDavid won three straight from 2017 to 19, while Gartner won in 1990, ’93 and ’96.
17. Dallas Stars
Last week: 16
Record: 23-18-2
Joe Pavelski. The veteran center enters the All-Star game in the midst of one of his coldest stretches of the season, as he’s been kept off the score sheet in three straight games.
16. Los Angeles Kings
Last week: 17
Record: 23-16-7
Adrian Kempe. The 25-year-old winger has career-highs in goals (18) and game-winning goals (5), helped by a career-high shooting percentage (14.4%).
15. Anaheim Ducks
Last week: 15
Record: 23-16-9
Troy Terry. He scored the game-winning goal Saturday against the Senators, putting him second in the NHL with seven game-winners this season, trailing only Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, who has eight.
14. Washington Capitals
Last week: 13
Record: 25-12-9
Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Capitals’ lone representative at the All-Star game after Alex Ovechkin tested positive for COVID-19, Kuznetsov has 44 points in 43 games in a bounce-back season for the Russian center.
13. Nashville Predators
Last week: 12
Record: 28-14-4
Juuse Saros. The goalie leads the league in minutes played this season with 2,251, having started 38 of Nashville’s 46 games.
12. St. Louis Blues
Last week: 11
Record: 26-13-5
Jordan Kyrou. The 23-year-old came up empty in Saturday’s 4–1 loss to Winnipeg, but he has not gone pointless in back-to-back games since early December.
11. Boston Bruins
Last week: 8
Record: 26-14-3
Patrice Bergeron. The longest-tenured athlete in Boston, Bergeron has been with the Bruins since 2003. By the time he arrived, Tom Brady already had one Super Bowl under his belt with the Patriots, and he won two more in Bergeron’s first two years in the city.
10. Calgary Flames
Last week: 14
Record: 22-13-6
Johnny Gaudreau. The six-time All-Star leads the league in primary assists per 60 minutes of play.
9. Pittsburgh Penguins
Last week: 5
Record: 27-11-8
Tristan Jarry. The 26-year-old goalie had not lost consecutive starts since the beginning of December but has now dropped three straight, including overtime losses to the Capitals and the Kraken.
8. Vegas Golden Knights
Last week: 10
Record: 27-16-3
Mark Stone. Stone buried his first shootout attempt in two seasons to seal a 3–2 victory Saturday against the Lightning. The winning shot came in the seventh round of the shootout.
7. New York Rangers
Last week: 7
Record: 30-13-4
Mika Zibanejad. The 28-year-old center has racked up 22 points in 15 games to start 2022, including a goal and an assist in a 5–2 win Tuesday against the Panthers.
6. Minnesota Wild
Last week: 9
Record: 27-10-3
Cam Talbot. In a head-scratching move by the NHL, the 34-year-old goalie received the first All-Star nod of his career; he ranks 10th in wins with 17 but 27th in save percentage (.910) and 32nd in goals-against average (2.92).
5. Tampa Bay Lightning
Last week: 3
Record: 30-10-6
Steven Stamkos. With his seventh All-Star nod, Stamkos will set a Lightning record, surpassing Martin St. Louis’s six appearances.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs
Last week: 6
Record: 29-10-3
Auston Matthews. In a 6–4 comeback win against the Devils on Monday, Matthews recorded his fifth career hat trick and his 400th career point.
3. Carolina Hurricanes
Last week: 4
Record: 31-9-2
Frederik Andersen. In his first year with the Hurricanes, the 32-year-old netminder has 24 wins, just one behind Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the most in the league—and he’s played in six fewer games.
2. Florida Panthers
Last week: 2
Record: 32-10-5
Jonathan Huberdeau. In January, he paced the league with 19 assists and 25 points to overtake Edmonton’s Draisaitl and McDavid for the overall points lead (64).
1. Colorado Avalanche
Last week: 1
Record: 32-8-4
Cale Makar. The 23-year-old leads all NHL defenseman with 18 goals as he heads to his first All-Star game. No Avalanche blueliner has scored that many goals since the 1996–97 season.
