With the 2012 Tim Horton’s All Star Game event coming up at the end of the month, the NHL has official put out the roster for all the NHL stars that will be participating. This year the all star events will be taken place in Ottawa, as the Ottawa Senators host the event.
Firstly after many weeks of the fan balloting stuffing the six starters were the first players to be announced on the roster and consist of Goaltender Tim Thomas, Right winger Daniel Alfredsson, Center Jason Spezza, Left winger Milan Michalek, Defensemen Erik Karlsson and defensemen Dion Phaneuf. The weird thing about this year’s starting line up is that half of them come from the hosting team of the Ottawa Senators. Which just means that the Senators fans were aimed and ready with their votes constantly over the past few weeks.
In the past week or so the NHL was busy deciding on the other star players from around the league that will be at the game. A full list of the roster has been released but among the chosen are star forwards such as Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, The Sedin Twins, and Alexander Ovechkin to name a few. But forwards will not be the only presence on the ice (obviously) they will be joined by some of the great defensive players in the league such as Kimmo Timonen, Shea Weaber and Dustin Byfuglien. For teams that are looking for a trade and a good defensive player (I’m talking to you Flyers), which are very few in the league right now watching these players in action during the skills competition and the game itself is going to be an useful resource.
There are also going to be some of the top current rookies in the league present at the event this year such as new players like Sean Couturier, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Craig Smith. The rookies will be important to recognize budding star players as they begin their career early with this kind of recognition. Of course one cannot forget about the star goaltenders that will be present. With no other than netminders like Tim Thomas (who is in the starting line up) and Henrik Lundquist to just name a few.
As of right now captains for each all star team have yet to be picked, but should be announced in the next few days. The all star draft is set to be on Thursday January 26th. NBCSportsnet (formerly VS in the us) will be covering the event the whole weekend and the draft, skills competition and the game itself will be televised.
