Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Knights forward not among ‘Last Men In’ for NHL All-Star Game

VGK VS ISLANDERS 4

Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) controls the puck while being pursued by New York Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock (6) during an NHL hockey game at T-Mobile Arena, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.

Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault was not selected by fans to be among the "Last Men In" at the NHL's All-Star Weekend Jan. 25-26 in San Jose.

Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl was voted onto the Pacific Division team, the league announced Friday. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is the lone representative from the Golden Knights named to the All-Star team.

Other players voted in were Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner (Atlantic Division), Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog (Central) and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (Metropolitan).

According to the NHL, more than 11.5 million votes were cast from Jan. 3-10, including a single-day high of more than two million votes on Thursday. Vote totals were not released by the league.

Marchessault was among eight"Last Men In" candidates from the Pacific Division, including Calgary's Mark Giordano, Vancouver's Brock Boeser, San Jose's Logan Couture and Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar.

It was going to be a long shot for Marchesssault to get included in the festivities.

Entering Friday, Draisaitl is fourth among all Pacific Division skaters with 54 points. Marchessault has 31 points, which includes 14 goals. Pavelski is 14th in points among Pacific Division skaters with 38, but is third in goals with 25. Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau and Edmonton's Connor McDavid each have 26 goals.

The NHL All-Star Skills competition takes place Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. (PT) on NBCSN and the All-Star Game -- a 3-on-3 tournament between the four division teams -- starts at 5 p.m. on NBC the following day.

The Golden Knights still have five games left before All-Star weekend. They hit the road for games Saturday in Chicago and Tuesday in Winnipeg, before they begin a three-game homestand with games against Pittsburg on Jan. 19, Minnesota on Jan. 21 and Nashville on Jan. 23..

The Golden Knights entered Friday with 58 points, two points back of division-leading Calgary and one point behind San Jose.

Here are the full rosters for each division's team for All-Star Weekend.

Atlantic Division

Forwards -- Jack Eichel, Buffalo, Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay, Auston Matthews, Toronto, David Pastrnak, Boston, Jeff Skinner, Buffalo, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay, John Tavares, Toronto; Defensemen -- Thomas Chabot, Ottawa, Keith Yandle, Florida; Goalies -- Jimmy Howard, Detroit, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay.

Metropolitan Division

Forwards -- Sebastian Aho, Carolina, Cam Atkinson, Columbus, Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders, Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh, Claude Giroux, Philadelphia, Taylor Hall, New Jersey; Defensemen -- John Carlson, Washington, Seth Jones, Columbus, Kris Letang, Pittsburgh; Goalies -- Braden Holtby, Washington, Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers.

Central Division

Forwards --Patrick Kane, Chicago, Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado, Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado, Ryan O'Reilly, St. Louis, Mikko Rantanen, Colorado, Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg, Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg; Defensemen -- Miro Heiskanen, Dallas; Roman Josi, Nashville; Goalies -- Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota, Pekka Rinne, Nashville.

Pacific Division

Forwards -- Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton, Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary, Clayton Keller, Arizona, Connor McDavid, Edmonton, Joe Pavelski, Sharks, Elias Pettersson, Vancouver; Defensemen -- Brent Burns, Sharks, Drew Doughty, Los Angeles, Erik Karlsson, Sharks; Goalies -- Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas, John Gibson, Anaheim.

The Las Vegas Sun staff contributed to this report.