On Thursday (Jan. 4), the NHL announced the first 32 of 44 players who will participate next month at NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto. The league’s Hockey Operations Departments selected one player from each team, with Connor McDavid getting the nod to represent the Edmonton Oilers.
The remaining 12 players will be decided by fan vote. From now through Thursday (Jan. 11), votes can be cast on the league’s website and app, as well as X (formerly Twitter).
Competition for fan votes this year will be fierce. Many of the league’s top performers through the first half of the 2023-24 season are on the ballot, including Colorado Avalanche defenceman Cale Makar (37 assists, tied for third in the league) and York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin (53 points, tied for third in the league).
McDavid, who is second with 39 assists and tied for third with 53 points in the league, is going to his seventh consecutive All-Star Game, which is currently the longest streak. On his last four trips to the midseason event, McDavid has been accompanied by at least one of his teammates from Edmonton.
Last January, Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl and Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner were both among the final 12 players that were selected to participate in the 2023 All-Star Game via fan vote. How many of McDavid’s teammates will be joining Edmonton’s captain this year? Here are the Oilers players eligible for fan voting with the strongest All-Star resumes:
Evan Bouchard (D)
Bouchard has cooled off a bit offensively following his streak of 13 consecutive games with a point, the second longest by a defenceman in franchise history, but he still sits fifth among all NHL blueliners with 37 points from nine goals and 27 assists. The 24-year-old is a pivotal part of Edmonton’s power-play, racking up 17 points on the man advantage, second most on the Oilers behind McDavid.
At the other end of the rink, Bouchard has made massive strides under new assistant coach Paul Coffey. Early in the season, Bouchard’s blunders led to opposition goals in nearly every game. Now he’s playing dependable defence and his plus/minus has climbed above zero for the first time this season.
Leon Draisaitl (C)
Draisaitl has been selected to each of the last four All-Star Games, but so far in 2023-24, the German forward isn’t producing points at the same prolific pace of the last few seasons. Even so, Draisaitl still ranks Top 20 in the NHL with 42 points from 18 goals and 24 assists.
Lately, Draisaitl has looked much more like his old self, scoring the winning goal twice during Edmonton’s current streak of six consecutive victories while finding great chemistry centering a line with Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele. The 28-year-old has eight power-play goals, which leads the Oilers and is tied for seventh most in the NHL.
Zach Hyman (LW)
With 37 points, including a team-leading 22 goals, Hyman has taken his game to a new level this season. The 31-year-old is on pace to score more than 50 times this season, which would smash his career high of 36 goals set last season.
Related: Oilers’ Hyman Deserves More Praise For Incredible Start to Season
While his superstar teammates have endured horrendous slumps, Hyman is the only Oilers forward who has consistently produced all season: he’s yet to go more than two straight games without recording a point, and his longest stretch without a goal is only three games. Hyman also remains arguably Edmonton’s best two-way player, leading the Oilers with a plus/minus rating of 12.
Stuart Skinner (G)
Fans voted Skinner to his first All-Star Game last year, and while many felt the Edmonton goalie wasn’t deserving based on his play, he received a degree of validation after the 2022-23 season when he was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.
Skinner is a contentious case again this year. His 2.83 goals against average (GAA) and .895 save percentage (SV%) are not All-Star-calibre numbers, but they’re negatively skewed by a dreadful start to the season as Edmonton stumbled out of the game with a 2-9-1 record. Since then, the Oilers have gone 17-6-0, and a lot of credit goes to Skinner, whose 14 wins over the last eight weeks are the most in the NHL during that stretch.
Fan voting closes at 11:59:59 p.m. EST on Jan. 11. The NHL will announce the 12 final All-Star participants in the days that follow.
