We know exactly what all of you are thinking: \u201cI\u2019m really excited about the Olympics, but boy, do I wish the NHL was holding an All-Star Game instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fret not. We have you covered with this week\u2019s edition of the Power Rankings, where we pick this year\u2019s All-Star class. The rules follow the NHL\u2019s from the last game: 44 players with eight goalies to create four teams of 11. Simple enough, until we had to make sure there was at least one guy from every team, which created some difficult choices. Auston Matthews? Kyle Connor? Wyatt Johnston? Who needs those guys when you can have whoever the best player from Calgary is this season!<\/p>\n
Thank goodness for actual best-on-best hockey coming in less than a month. For today, we mourn what could\u2019ve been with our fake All-Star Game. Here\u2019s who we\u2019re sending.<\/p>\n
1. Colorado Avalanche, 33-4-8<\/p>\n
Last week: 1
Sean: 1
Dom: 1<\/p>\n
All-Stars: Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Ne\u010das, Cale Makar<\/p>\n
Have Connor McDavid\u2019s 20-game point streak and Macklin Celebrini\u2019s teenage mega-leap caused MacKinnon to lose ground in the Hart Trophy race? Sure, but he\u2019s still just one point behind the former and 10 ahead of the latter.<\/p>\n
Ne\u010das, meanwhile, is tied with MacKinnon and Mark Scheifele for the most even-strength points in the league since Dec. 1, with 20, and Cale Makar remains Cale Makar; his Net Rating of plus-17 is best among defensemen. A shocker, no doubt.<\/p>\n
2. Tampa Bay Lightning, 29-13-3<\/p>\n
Last week: 2
Sean: 2
Dom: 2<\/p>\n
All-Stars: Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/p>\n
With the way the Lightning have played lately, they could\u2019ve sent a number of guys. Darren Raddysh is one of the highest scoring players in the league over the last month. But a slow start for many means it\u2019s just Kucherov and Vasilevskiy \u2014 the ol\u2019 reliables for Tampa Bay. Those two remain the reason the Lightning are the class of the East, with Kucherov scoring 67 points in 41 games (fourth) and Vasilevskiy earning a .915 save percentage (fourth among starters).<\/p>\n
3. Carolina Hurricanes, 28-15-4<\/p>\n
Last week: 5
Sean: 5
Dom: 3<\/p>\n
All-Star: Sebastian Aho<\/p>\n
Andrei Svechnikov\u2019s slow start and Seth Jarvis\u2019 since-healed injury mean that Aho is the only Hurricane to deserve real consideration. That feels weird for a division leader, but whatever. Aho is basically a point-per-game player, and his rate stats (1.1 goals per 60, 1.29) are almost identical to last season\u2019s. That kind of consistency counts for plenty.<\/p>\n
4. Buffalo Sabres, 26-16-4<\/p>\n
Last week: 10
Sean: 3
Dom: 6<\/p>\n
All-Star: Tage Thompson<\/p>\n
It was really nice of Thompson to put a stamp on his fake All-Star nod with a vintage Tage performance<\/a>, scoring three goals and two assists in a one-man victory over Montreal on Thursday. He\u2019s starting to look like the dominant presence he showed to be in 2022-23 and is on pace for 45 goals and 87 points. That would be his third 40-goal season.<\/p>\n 5. Dallas Stars, 27-12-9<\/p>\n Last week: 3 All-Stars: Jason Robertson, Mikko Rantanen<\/p>\n On the NHL\u2019s website, you can filter stats by a player\u2019s nationality. If that functionality magically disappears at the start of February, don\u2019t be surprised. Yes, indeed, Robertson still leads Americans in points (56) and is tied for first place in goals (26).<\/p>\n Rantanen is a no-brainer as well. He\u2019s now leading the league in power-play points (non-Edmonton Oilers division).<\/p>\n 6. Vegas Golden Knights, 23-11-12<\/p>\n Last week: 11 All-Star: Jack Eichel<\/p>\n With the second-highest average Game Score in the league, Mark Stone, in some ways, might be having the best season of any of our omissions. Alas, he\u2019s missed 16 games. Eichel, meanwhile, is coming off consecutive three-assist nights and scored a game-winner on Thursday that made Mitch Marner very happy. That should count for two!<\/p>\n Mitch Marner was fired up after Jack Eichel’s overtime winner over Toronto! pic.twitter.com\/LmDcJ4Ll0J<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Vegas, by the way, has won six straight. This is after losing five straight and nine of 10.<\/p>\n 7. Minnesota Wild, 26-13-9<\/p>\n Last week: 4 All-Stars: Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Quinn Hughes<\/p>\n Was three All-Stars too much from Minnesota? It felt like it after a demoralizing loss to the Jets on Thursday, but it\u2019s really tough to leave any of these three off. Kaprizov and Boldy are both top 20 in points, while Hughes sits sixth in points among defensemen. The Wild have entered the rarified air that Colorado and Edmonton usually live in: too many good players to leave off.<\/p>\n 8. Detroit Red Wings, 28-16-4<\/p>\n Last week: 7 All-Stars: Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider<\/p>\n Remember that \u201csort by nationality\u201d option we brought up regarding Robertson? It shines upon DeBrincat, too. His 24 goals this season are fourth among American players. Seider remains an absolute no-brainer. Detroit\u2019s offensive results with him have dipped a bit lately, but that\u2019s due to a shooting percentage of 2.6 percent (!) in the last seven games. We offer our apologies to Lucas Raymond, who popped up on our initial list of potential selections.<\/p>\n 9. Montreal Canadiens, 26-15-7<\/p>\n Last week: 6 All-Stars: Nick Suzuki, Lane Hutson<\/p>\n During the team\u2019s rebuild, Montreal\u2019s representatives at the All-Star Game were mostly made to appease a criteria rather than being actually earned. Not so this season for a Canadiens team that sits firmly in the league\u2019s top 10. Nick Suzuki has been one of the league\u2019s best centers, while Lane Hutson is proving last year was no fluke with 45 points in 47 games. This year, the Canadiens\u2019 All-Stars have earned their fake spots.<\/p>\n 10. Pittsburgh Penguins, 22-14-10<\/p>\n Last week: 8 All-Star: Sidney Crosby<\/p>\n If Crosby was in the NBA, being named to his 10th All-Star Game in 2024 would be a pretty big deal. Here, all it got was a shrug. Part of that is because the selection process doesn\u2019t actually select the best players, rendering the accolade hollow. Still, we know Crosby isn\u2019t getting any pity invites, and it\u2019s incredible that even at the ripe age of 38, he\u2019s still playing at such a high level. He\u2019s the easy choice for Pittsburgh every time.<\/p>\n 11. New York Islanders, 26-16-5<\/p>\n Last week: 12 All-Stars: Matthew Schaefer, Ilya Sorokin<\/p>\n The next All-Star Game was supposed to be at UBS Arena, and for our purposes, we\u2019re going to pretend the Islanders are hosting our fake shindig. You know what that means: one extra representative as a treat for the Islanders faithful. Not that Schaefer and Sorokin didn\u2019t earn it on their own accord, but when the criteria demands room for some guy from Seattle, inclusion becomes tougher.<\/p>\n Sorokin has been a brick wall, but the real treat would\u2019ve been seeing Schaefer challenge for fastest skater at the skills competition. We think he has an above-average chance in that event.<\/p>\n 12. Toronto Maple Leafs, 23-16-8<\/p>\n Last week: 14 All-Star: William Nylander<\/p>\n Sorry, Auston, but if you wanted to make our All-Star Game, you should\u2019ve shown up a little earlier than late December. It\u2019s tough to give a non-playoff team two of the 44 spots, so it\u2019s just one Leaf going, and that has to be Nylander. He picked up two points last night to bring his total to 48 in 37 games, the highest pace of his career.<\/p>\n 13. Utah Mammoth, 24-20-4<\/p>\n Last week: 19 All-Star: Clayton Keller<\/p>\n He hasn\u2019t quite followed up on his 90-point 2024-25, but Keller has still probably been Utah\u2019s best player. Dylan Guenther (1.67 goals per 60) and Nick Schmaltz (a plus-9.9 Net Rating, identical to Keller) got a look, too.<\/p>\n 14. Edmonton Oilers, 23-17-8<\/p>\n Last week: 9 All-Stars: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard<\/p>\n McDavid\u2019s point streak ended at 20 games on Thursday night. He\u2019s lucky we already put in the order for our fake All-Star jerseys. We talked about this on \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d earlier in the day, but the lack of attention paid to that streak is pretty funny.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an All-Star Game,\u201d is the standard rationale for leaving Bouchard off the Olympic roster. We\u2019ve got some good news!<\/p>\n Congrats to Draisaitl, too, for this fake honor, and for this NHL.com headline<\/a> from Jan. 11: \u201cDraisaitl honored by Oilers for 1,000th NHL point, family dog attends.\u201d<\/p>\n 15. San Jose Sharks, 24-19-3<\/p>\n Last week: 17 All-Star: Macklin Celebrini<\/p>\n On Thursday morning, Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Celebrini would get his Hart Trophy vote. \u201cGo even-strength points for the San Jose Sharks, look at what he has and then the next closest person,\u201d Carbery said. At the time, Celebrini had 40 to Tyler Toffoli\u2019s 20.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not a slight against the rest of his group,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a compliment of how incredible of a season he is having and how impactful he is for the San Jose Sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, Celebrini went out and got point No. 41 against Carbery\u2019s team in a 3-2 Sharks win.<\/p>\n Between-the-legs AND no-look pass from Macklin Celebrini \ud83d\ude2e\u200d\ud83d\udca8 pic.twitter.com\/Ogr0m27Jc1<\/a><\/p>\n
Sean: 6
Dom: 4<\/p>\n
Sean: 4
Dom: 7<\/p>\n
Sean: 7
Dom: 5<\/p>\n
Sean: 8
Dom: 8<\/p>\n
Sean: 9
Dom: 9<\/p>\n
Sean: 10
Dom: 10<\/p>\n
Sean: 11
Dom: 11<\/p>\n
Sean: 12
Dom: 12<\/p>\n
Sean: 13
Dom: 14<\/p>\n
Sean: 15
Dom: 13<\/p>\n
Sean: 14
Dom: 16<\/p>\n