A week after Tim Thomas was named as the fan selection for starting goaltender, the NHL announced today that Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and Tyler Seguin will join the Bruins netminder in Ottawa for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game on January 29th.
Bruins head coach Claude Julien and his assistants were also named to the All-Star Game last week as well so this year's festivities will have a distinct Black & Gold taste.
Seguin was inexplicably missing from this year's ballot despite starting the season on a scoring tear including posting his first career hat trick against the Maple Leafs on November 5th. Who can forget his amazing goal in that same game? And if you forgot about it, here it is.
Seguin has really turned a corner this season, as his 17 goals in just 38 games so far absolutely dwarfs his 11 goals in 74 games last season and leads the team. The speedy winger leads the league in Plus/Minus with a plus 33 and is third in the NHL in game-winning goals with five. Seguin was a write-in candidate in this year's All-Star balloting and his strong performance coupled with his all-world play has catapulted him into the forefront of All-Star discussion.
Chara is obviously one of, if not the best defenseman in the NHL and he is a perennial All-Star. Even if Chara played like garbage this year, he would still be invited off the strength of his record breaking slap shot in the hardest shot contest last season.
Chara has had a fantastic year once again as his +27 is good for second in the NHL (behind Seguin). His plus/minus is doubly impressive because Chara is always paired up against the opposition's top players such as Phil Kessel, Alex Ovechkin, the Sedins and Steven Stamkos.
I can't really make the argument for many other Bruins, as their team oriented style of play doesn't lend itself to individual accolades but one player that I thought would make the team is Patrice Bergeron. Selke Smooth is having his best season and has really shown his value to this team since Boston's second forward line has been its best thus far. He has never made an All-Star Game which boggles my mind, so for him to miss out on this year's contest is a little shocking but I'm sure he wouldn't complain about having a few extra days off.
The All-Star rosters will follow the same format as last year with both teams being decided by a draft on Friday night. Haha who can forget Kessel being Mr. Irrelevant last season? One of the all-time classic awkward moments in a sports broadcast-"Hey Phil!".
UPDATE 1/12: Jordan Caron was called up from Providence since Brad Marchand is still serving his five-game suspension. Caron is playing on a line with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, meaning that Zach Hamill is a healthy scratch.
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