Claude Giroux named to the NHL All-Star Game

The NHL announced its divisional teams for the All-Star Game today, and one Flyer will be making the trip down to Tampa at the end of January, as Claude Giroux has been named to the Metropolitan Division’s team.

For Giroux, this marks his fifth All-Star Game appearance. It’s a just reward for what’s been a truly remarkable bounce-back year for the captain, who enters tonight’s games tied for second in the NHL in points. Giroux missed out on the game last year in what was a down-year for him (Wayne Simmonds, of course, represented the Flyers and won All-Star Game MVP in the process), but this is his fifth appearance in the last six All-Star Games that the NHL has hosted.

There were a few noteworthy omissions from the Flyers. The one who seemed most on the fringe was Shayne Gostisbehere, who has had a rebound year of his own after a fairly tough sophomore campaign and is fourth in the NHL among defensemen in scoring. While there are a lot of deserving defensemen in the division based on their play so far this year, it would’ve been quite fun to see Gostisbehere in the 3-on-3 competition.

Jakub Voracek, who’s currently leading the entire league in assists, and arguably Sean Couturier, who’s been a point-per-game player and is in the top-5 in the league in goal-scoring, also had a reasonable case to make the roster. But in an eight-team division, a team with 11 All-Star players is going to have some snubs, and the Flyers (fifth in the division by points percentage as of this writing) were always going to be in tough to get a second selection, let alone a third or fourth.

Of course, All-Star Weekend doesn’t just feature the game itself, and we’ll have to wait and see what Giroux is asked to do in this year’s Skills Competition. The last time he was an All-Star, Giroux took part in the Accuracy Shooting competition, and was involved in the stick-handling section of the Relay. Who knows what his Alex Ovechkin-captained team will ask him to do this time.

The All-Star Game will be held in Tampa on January 28, while the All-Star Break takes place on January 26-29. Here are the full teams for all four divisions, via the NHL:

Atlantic Division (All-Star appearance)

F Aleksander Barkov, FLA (1st)

F Jack Eichel, BUF (1st)

F Nikita Kucherov, TBL (2nd)

F Brad Marchand, BOS (2nd)

F Auston Matthews, TOR (2nd)

F Steven Stamkos, TBL* (5th)

D Mike Green, DET (2nd)

D Victor Hedman, TBL (2nd)

D Erik Karlsson, OTT (5th)

G Carey Price, MTL (6th)

G Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (1st)

Head Coach: Jon Cooper, TBL (1st)

Metropolitan Division (All-Star appearance)

F Josh Bailey, NYI (1st)

F Sidney Crosby, PIT (3rd)

F Claude Giroux, PHI (5th)

F Taylor Hall, NJD (3rd)

F Alex Ovechkin, WSH* (7th)

F John Tavares, NYI (5th)

D Noah Hanifin, CAR (1st)

D Seth Jones, CBJ (2nd)

D Kris Letang, PIT (4th)

G Braden Holtby, WSH (3rd)

G Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (4th)

Head Coach: Barry Trotz, WSH (3rd)

Central Division (All-Star appearance)

F Patrick Kane, CHI (7th)

F Nathan MacKinnon, COL (2nd)

F Brayden Schenn, STL (1st)

F Tyler Seguin, DAL (5th)

F Eric Staal, MIN (5th)

F Blake Wheeler, WPG (1st)

D John Klingberg, DAL (1st)

D Alex Pietrangelo, STL (1st)

D P.K. Subban, NSH* (3rd)

G Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (1st)

G Pekka Rinne, NSH (2nd)

Head Coach: Peter Laviolette, NSH (3rd)

Pacific Division (All-Star appearance)

F Brock Boeser, VAN (1st)

F Johnny Gaudreau, CGY (4th)

F Anze Kopitar, LAK (4th)

F Connor McDavid, EDM* (2nd)

F James Neal, VGK (3rd)

F Rickard Rakell, ANA (1st)

D Brent Burns, SJS (5th)

D Drew Doughty, LAK (4th)

D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, ARI (2nd)

G Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK (3rd)

G Jonathan Quick, LAK (3rd)

Head Coach: Gerard Gallant, VGK (2nd)

* Fan-elected captain