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Earlier on Saturday, in the Flyers' 3-1 loss to Boston, Jakub Voracek became the first player in the NHL to hit 50 points in the 2014-15 NHL season. As of this writing on early Saturday evening, he leads the NHL in scoring, while Claude Giroux sits in third in the NHL in scoring with 46 points. They have been far and away the two most exciting parts of this Flyers season and this team would be abjectly terrible without them having done what they've done.
It should come as no surprise, then, that both of them were named to the NHL's All-Star rosters, which were released on Saturday evening for the league's event in Columbus on January 23-25.
A team getting more than one representative isn't easy nowadays, since every one of the league's 30 teams has to be represented at least once between the 42 All-Star Game spots and the six rookie spots. That both of them were able to secure a spot despite the Flyers sitting at 25th in the league standings is a testament to how outstanding they've been this year.
The All-Star selection is the first of Voracek's career, and the third straight selection for Giroux (since there were, of course, no All-Star games in 2013 or 2014).
From here, the roster will be split in two, with two captains being selected and each of them picking a team of 20 additional players who will face off on the 25th. One of the captains will be from the home-team Blue Jackets -- could Voracek, a former Blue Jacket, be chosen for the other captain spot? Sure would be fun.
The first six spots on the All-Star team -- Zemgus Girgensons of the Buffalo Sabres and Corey Crawford, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks -- were selected by fan vote. The full rosters are below.
Forwards:
- Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
- Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
- Nick Foligno, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Ryan Johansen, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers
- Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
- Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils
- John Tavares, New York Islanders
- Rick Nash, New York Rangers
- Bobby Ryan, Ottawa Senators
- Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
- Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers
- Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues
- Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Radim Vrbata, Vancouver Canucks
- Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Defensemen:
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes
- Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
- Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes
- Erik Johnson, Colorado Avalanche
- Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
- Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild
- Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
- Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
- Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis Blues
- Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets
Goaltenders:
- Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings
- Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers
- Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
- Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Rookies:
- Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
- Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
- Tanner Pearson, Los Angeles Kings
- Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators
- Mike Hoffman, Ottawa Senators
- Jonathan Drouin, Tampa Bay Lightning