Pittsburgh Penguins: My Picks for the All-Star Game
As we near the mid-point of the 2017-18 NHL season, you know what always pops up around this time–All-Star Game fan voting. I’m sure Pittsburgh Penguins fans will be voting in full force.
Despite the fan voting process, there a number of players that are selected by the league to be All-Stars and participate in the game. These players are obviously having ecstatic years and have placed themselves above the rest at the midway point of the season.The fan vote has me thinking, which Pittsburgh Penguins might be headed to Tampa for All-Star weekend?
Pittsburgh Penguins
Never mind the voting, but who might be able to go simply based on their performance?
Well only three players really come to mind here. Those three are Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. These three currently lead the Penguins in points and have been our superstars so far this season.
Unfortunately, I really only think two out of these three players will make the All-Star game, and those two are Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby. Malkin only has 25 points and when looking at the overall stats list this season, there is a lot of competition in the Metropolitan Division that will probably beat him out. But why Kessel and Crosby you may ask?
Phil Kessel
Phil Kessel has absolutely exploded this season. We are not even at the halfway mark and he already has put up 34 points. He is leading our team in goals and points and on top of that, he ranks seventh in the league for points.
Kessel is pretty much a lock to be in the All-Star game. Out of Metropolitan forwards, he leads them all in points. It’s pretty much a no-brainer.
Sidney Crosby
OK let me just get this out of the way. I find it really doubtful that the NHL would let their best player miss the All-Star Game despite the fact that he isn’t necessarily “leading the league” right now. Some may argue that this is not good and even compare it to Jonathan Toews’ undeserving All-Star selection last season, but Crosby has really been amazing as of late and he still has a strong case to be an All-Star.
Crosby has 29 points on the season ranking him second on the Penguins. He also has been very hot lately with 10 points in his last five games. If he keeps this up, I really think he’ll make the team as one of the Metropolitan Division’s forwards. You can never count out the world’s best player.
So let me know who your picks are for this year’s All-Star game! Leave your comments below!