The Toronto Maple Leafs are already sending two players on the NHL All-Star game.
The game is January 26, and the Toronto Maple Leafs will be sending Auston Matthews and John Tavares to San Jose for the game.
In case you don’t know, the entire all-star festivities will go down on the 26th, which is a Saturday. In the past, the skill competition was on Saturday and the game was on Sunday Afternoon. That is not the case this year.
The format is 3 on 3, with four teams playing a three game mini-tournament. The format and the rule about each team being represented makes picking the teams challenging and all but guarantees a few I CAN”T BELIEVE ITs.
(I don’t like to use the word ‘snub’ though, I think it gets overused and has bad connotations. The players left oft were not snubbed, they were simply victims of the system. And, as far as victimization goes, missing the all-star game is right up there with tearing off mattress tags).
Clearly Mark Giordano, Jeff Skinner and Morgan Rielly are all players whose commission from the team is clearly insane. Not to mention Frederick Andersen.
But one player stands above everyone else when it comes to not being named to the team.
Mitch Marner
The Toronto Maple Leafs Mitch Marner is having one hell of a season. He is fifth in the NHL scoring race with 55 points in 40 games.
He is also red-hot with nine goals in his last eight games.
He has 89 points in his last 70 regular season games, dating back to last February first.
Marner had nine points in seven playoff games.
So, if you count the playoffs, then he has 98 points in his last 77 games.
Including the playoffs, Marner has 102 points in the last 82 games.
For perspective, last season saw the NHL have only three 100 players, and Marner’s 102 over the last 82 would tie him for second.
So it’s kind of stupid that he isn’t on the all-star team.
But the format demands it. Tavares is on pace for 50 + goals, and he and Matthews are two of the NHL’s biggest stars.
The only thing that you can say about Marner, as a negative, is that it’s only been 11 calendar months, and five hockey months of excellence.
With only six points last October, he was put on the fourth line.
In the three months of this season, and the last two full months of last season, Marner has put up monthly totals of 16, 20,17, 18, and 16 points.
But prior to that he went 6, 10, 13, 6. That is a huge difference.
I don’t say that to knock him, obviously he figured something out and that is amazing. I’m only saying that when it comes to all-star games, doing it for a long time counts. Since you can only take so many guys from one team, and since Matthews is the obvious #1 choice, you can’t blame anyone for leaving him off in favor of Tavares.
But not even being able to vote him in? That’s crazy.
stats from naturalstattrick.com and espn.com