The NHL announced its selections for the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game, and James Neal and Marc-Andre Fleury will be representing the Vegas Golden Knights at the festivities, which will be held in Tampa Bay Jan. 26-28.
This will be the third All-Star Game appearance for both Neal and Fleury. Both are surprising choices given the impressive play of Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson through the first half of the season.
That being said, Fleury leads the league in save percentage (.945) and goals against average (1.73) among goalies who have started at least four games, and he is 9-2-1 in 12 starts this year. Neal has 18 goals and 29 points in 41 games and was a big part of Vegas’ early start, scoring six goals in the first four games of the season.
The two will join Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant, who will coach the Pacific Division team in the 3-on-3 tournament.
It was revealed last week that Connor McDavid led all players in the fan vote and will serve as captain of the Pacific Division team. The captains of the other three teams, as selected by fans, are P.K. Subban (Central Division), Alex Ovechkin (Metropolitan Division) and Steven Stamkos (Atlantic Division).
Peter Laviolette (Nashville), Barry Trotz (Washington) and Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay) will serve as the head coaches for the Central, Metropolitan and Atlantic Division teams, respectively.
Other teams with multiple representatives include Tampa Bay (4), Los Angeles (3), Winnipeg (2), St. Louis (2), Dallas (2), Nashville (2), Washington (2), Pittsburgh (2) and the New York Islanders (2).
Neal and Fleury will join representatives from the other seven teams in the Pacific Division. The roster, composed of six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies, features McDavid, Johnny Gaudreau, Brock Boeser, Rickard Rakell and Anze Kopitar up front, Drew Doughty, Brent Burns and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the back end and Jonathan Quick in net.
Here are the complete rosters for each division:
Pacific Division
Forwards
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (Captain)
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks
James Neal, Vegas Golden Knights
Rickard Rakell, Anaheim Ducks
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Defensemen
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes
Goalies
Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
Central Division
Forwards
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets
Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues
Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Defensemen
P.K. Subban, Nashville Predators (Captain)
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
John Klingberg, Dallas Stars
Goalies
Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Metropolitan Division
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (Captain)
Taylor Hall, New Jersey Devils
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
John Tavares, New York Islanders
Josh Bailey, New York Islanders
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
Defensemen
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Noah Hanifin, Carolina Hurricanes
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins
Goalies
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Atlantic Division
Forwards
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (Captain)
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Defensemen
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
Mike Green, Detroit Red Wings
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens