We’re still a long ways away from the NHL All-Star Game, which takes place in Toronto on February 3rd. Still, it’s in that time frame where the league starts thinking about putting rosters together and there is absolutely no doubt that Nikita Kucherov will be selected. The question now is if any of his teammates will join him.
Unless Andrei Vasilevskiy goes nuclear over the next month or so, it’s unlikely that he won’t be on the charter flight to Toronto for the weekend. The same goes for players like Steven Stamkos, and Brandon Hagel who have solid seasons so far, but might have other players from other teams picked before them. As of right now only Kucherov and David Pastrnak have more points than Brayden Point among players in the Atlantic Division, but that could chance over time.
On defense, Victor Hedman could hear his name called at the draft on Thursday. The “old” man is third in points among defensemen with 23, trailing only Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. Defensive play isn’t a huge factor when selecting these teams, so if Heddy keeps at this pace, he’s likely a shoe-in. After he struggled last year, it’s good to see The Big Swede up to his old offensive tricks.
We’ll probably find out the initial rosters around January and then there will be a vote-in process to fill things out. Then we’ll see what the jerseys look like. Hopefully, there will be a couple of Lightning players to choose from.
Lightning / NHL News
Jonathan Drouin is finding his way in Colorado [Mile High Hockey]
Drouin’s NHL journey has been filled with it’s fair share of obstacles. He’s in Colorado now, playing with a long-time friend in Nathan MacKinnon, and doing well.
Which 7 teams will drive the trade market [The Athletic]
A lot of teams on this list are looking for goaltending. Will the Lightning get a call or two about the availability of Jonas Johansson?
NHL Trade Board [The Athletic]
There are a few exBolts on this list, but no current ones.
Picking the face of every NHL franchise [Bleacher Report]
Steven Stamkos gets the nod, which is probably right.
NHLPA reviewing Corey Perry situation [Larry Brooks’ Twitter]
Perry cleared waivers yesterday and is free to sign with any team. Per Brooks, the NHLPA has 60 days to file a grievance if they think anything untoward happened with the termination of the contract.
Perry’s contract terminated, but questions still remain [Daily Face Off]
Frank Seravelli had some more information on the alleged circumstances that led to Perry’s termination, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
