The fan ballots are live for the 2017 NHL All-Star Game in Los Angeles and there are four Devils up for consideration for spots on the Metropolitan Division roster (the league will be doing the same format as last season with the divisional All-Star teams and a mini tournament).
According to Brian Born on the Devils’ official website, voting for the 2017 NHL All-Star Game ends on January 2 at 11:59 PM ET. Each of the top vote getters – regardless of position – will be “named All-Stars and captains” for their division.
The four Devils up for consideration are: Michael Cammalleri, Andy Greene, Taylor Hall and Cory Schneider.
Michael Cammalleri has 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points in 17 games and a plus-3 rating according to the stats highlighted in Born’s article. He was also named the NHL’s second star of the week for last week with a hot streak that netted him 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points in just three games. This after he returned from a hiatus that saw his daughter suffer from a bout of pneumonia that required hospitalization and surgery.
But even prior to that situation, as Born points out, Cammalleri had been hot. He scored a natural hat trick to score his first three goals of the year back on November 6 versus the Hurricanes. Cammalleri has been the main source of the Devils’ offense since Taylor Hall went down with a knee injury that required surgery a few weeks ago.
Next up, the captain. Andy Greene’s stats highlighted by Born include 2 goals (including a penalty shot game winning goal in overtime at the Sabres), 3 assists for 5 points in 22 games and 22:11 of average ice time per game.
Andy Greene has never really gotten his due as a leader outside of the Devils’ locker room, but maybe this is the year that the reliable defenseman, who never misses a game for New Jersey, gets to play in his first All-Star Game. Greene may not be the flashiest, but he is the most dependable. He is always in the right position to make the correct play defensively and rarely makes mistakes. Maybe it is time that he gets some reward for that reliability and solid hockey sense.
Taylor Hall makes the ballot despite having missed the past three weeks due to injury. He has 5 goals and 7 assists for 12 points in 14 games, which include 2 game winners according to Born’s article.
Hall, as Born pointed out, would make a great addition to the All-Star Game for one major reason: his skills at three-on-three. The overtime format is what the All-Star Game will once again be utilizing and very few players in the NHL are as dynamic with extra space as Hall. With him making his return to the Devils’ lineup tonight in Chicago, we will see if he can put up some more of the great numbers he had before the injury to stand out and make people vote for him.
Last but certainly not least, we have the Devils’ reliable netminder Cory Schneider. Schneider’s stats include eight wins, a 2.56 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. He backstopped the Metro Division in last year’s All-Star Game in Nashville as the lone Devils’ representative.
Schneider is certainly used to playing in 3-on-3 situations, as the Devils have participated in the most overtime games this season in the NHL. But Cory is also one of the top goalies in the league no matter how you slice it.
You can vote for these four players at NHL.com/devils/all-star-ballot up to ten times per day. Good luck to the players up for the getting in and congratulations on being considered in the first place.