NEWS: Nathan MacKinnon Named To Seventh NHL All-Star Game

On Thursday night, the NHL announced the first 32 players selected to play in the All-Star game come Feb. 3 in Toronto.

As if there was any doubt, Nathan MacKinnon was one of the players selected to participate in the yearly affair.

The Colorado Avalanche superstar, who entered Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars with 61 points in 38 games, is on pace to have the best season of his NHL career. Earlier this week, he was named the #1 star for December, after he put up 29 points in just 15 games. Those 29 points just so happened to be a franchise record for points in a month, and yes, that includes the Quebec Nordiques days.

This is the seventh time that MacKinnon has been selected for the All-Star game.

For anyone wondering, the league selected just one player per team to the All-Star game, which is why guys like Cale Makar weren’t selected, despite being deserving of a selection. There’s still a chance for the likes of Makar, Valeri Nichushkin, and Mikko Rantanen to make it, though. Fans have the opportunity to vote for the next 12 participants in the All-Star game. The Fan vote will be held on NHL.com/vote and you can also vote on X (formerly Twitter) until Jan. 11.

In addition, there’s going to be another fan vote held from Jan. 13-18 to select four players to participate in the Skills Competition, which takes place on Feb. 2.

The NHL has changed up the format a little bit this year, going back to the player draft they had several years back. Celebrities will pair with the Captains to select four teams of 11 players. The skills competition will be a little different as well, with 12 All-Stars competing for points in eight events, with the winner taking home a cool $1 million.

Will that get more people to tune in, or make it a little more interesting? We’ll find out in a month.

In the meantime, congratulations to MacKinnon on another All-Star nod, one he’s obviously deserving of.