DENVER — Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has been named to the Central Division roster for the 2024 NHL All-Star game, the league announced Thursday.
This will be MacKinnon's seventh straight All-Star game selection, trailing only Joe Sakic (eight) for the most consecutive All-Star Game selections in franchise history.
The NHL department of hockey operations chose one player per NHL team in each division, making up the initial eight-man rosters for each division. The three remaining players per division (two skaters, one goalie) will be selected as part of the 2024 All-Star Fan Vote, which began Thursday evening and runs through Jan. 11.
MacKinnon, 28, joins Joe Sakic (13 selections) and Peter Forsberg (seven selections) as the only players in Avalanche/Nordiques history to be named to an All-Star Game seven or more times with the franchise. MacKinnon has been selected every season since 2016-2017 with the exception of 2020-2021, when there was no event. He served as the captain of the Central Division in three straight events from 2019-2022 but missed the 2019 and 2022 events due to injury.
MacKinnon entered Jan. 4 ranking among NHL leaders in assists (41, first), points (61, second), even-strength points (36, first), power-play points (25, second), goals (20, ninth), multi-point games (20, first) and shots (169, third).
On Dec. 21 against Ottawa, MacKinnon became the first player in Avalanche history (since relocation) to score four goals in a game, which included his 300th career goal. It's been a season of milestones for the Halifax, Nova Scotia native. He also reached 500 career assists on Dec. 5 versus Anaheim and 800 career points on Dec. 13 versus Buffalo.
Here are the initial NHL All-Stars:
Goaltenders: Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Jake Oettinger (Dallas), Igor Shesterkin (N.Y. Rangers), Cam Talbot (Los Angeles)
Defensemen: Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo), Quinn Hughes (Vancouver)
Forwards: Sebastian Aho (Carolina), Mathew Barzal (N.Y. Islanders), Connor Bedard (Chicago), Oliver Bjorkstrand (Seattle), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh), Alex DeBrincat (Detroit), Jack Eichel (Vegas), Filip Forsberg (Nashville), Tomas Hertl (San Jose), Jack Hughes (New Jersey), Boone Jenner (Columbus), Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota), Clayton Keller (Arizona), Travis Konecny (Philadelphia), Elias Lindholm (Calgary), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Connor McDavid (Edmonton), Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay), Auston Matthews (Toronto), David Pastrnak (Boston), Sam Reinhart (Florida), Nick Suzuki (Montreal), Robert Thomas (St. Louis), Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa), Frank Vatrano (Anaheim)
The NHL All-Star game will be played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario on Feb. 3 as part of a three-day event.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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