Avs send three to NHL All-Star Game as Nazem Kadri is snubbed for now

The NHL announced the rosters for this year’s NHL All-Star Game in Vegas in the first week of February.

As expected, Nathan MacKinnon was named the captain of the Central Division as a result of the NHL’s All-Star Fan Vote. It will be MacKinnon’s fifth All-Star Game appearance and his third straight as the captain of the division. MacKinnon and Joe Sakic are the only Avalanche players to ever be named a captain at the All-Star Game.

Given MacKinnon’s brilliance this year with 35 points in just 23 games easily justifies his selection to the team and MacKinnon is, at least nationally for now, still the superstar face of the franchise.

Joining MacKinnon is first-time All-Star Cale Makar, who is having a special season himself. Makar is leading all defensemen in goals with 16 in just 29 games and is fourth in points with 34. He is also first in points-per-game and game-winning goals. Makar is the first Avalanche defenseman selected to the All-Star Game since Erik Johnson in 2014-15.

Makar has been a one-man highlight reel in the last two weeks and his selection to the team seemed a no-brainer. The only surprise here is that he is the only defenseman selected to the Central Division roster before the Last Man In vote takes place.

That Last Man In vote is where Nazem Kadri will have to get the nod if he is to also represent the Avalanche in Vegas at the All-Star festivities. Despite being fourth in the entire league in scoring with 48 points in just 30 games, Kadri is on the outside looking in for the time being.

There is a recent precedent of the Last Man In vote going Colorado’s way, however, as Gabe Landeskog’s lone All-Star appearance in 2019 came via the Last Man In voting process. Still, given the league’s peculiar handling of anything Nazem Kadri in the last few years, it doesn’t feel great to see even the obvious accomplishment of being among the elite in scoring couldn’t get him named to the All-Star Game.

In fact, Colorado has two players in the top 10 of the NHL in scoring and neither are going to the event as Mikko Rantanen, who is seventh in scoring with 40 points in 30 games, is also not going.

The third member of the Avalanche that is going, however, is head coach Jared Bednar, who was selected as the coach of the Central Division team because the Avalanche had the highest points percentage in the division at the start of the week.

The All-Star activities begin on February 4 with the skills competition and continue February 5 with the actual playing of the All-Star Game.