Is anyone surprised? Taylor Hall will represent the New Jersey Devils in San Jose at the 2019 NHL All Star Game. He will suit up as a member of Team Metropolitan Division. This is Taylor Hall’s fourth straight selection to the All Star Game, the first of which was as a member of the Edmonton Oilers representing the Pacific Division and the next three with the Devils and the Metropolitan Division.
At last year’s All Star Game, Hall was too injured to participate and was replaced by Devils forward Brian Boyle. In 2016 and 2017 he was on the eventual winning team as a member of the Pacific and Metropolitan Divisions respectively.
Taylor Hall is battling injury currently, but he will likely be just fine in time for the game, and has been amazing all season long. He has 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points in 33 games played, excellent. He leads all Devils in scoring as we all expected, and is on pace for another great point total. Hall has really put himself in the conversation as one of the best players in the National Hockey League.
Taylor Hall will be joined by some elite players and have a chance to really put on a show in both the skills competition in San Jose. He will be joined by fellow stars Sebastian Aho, Cam Atkinson, Mat Barzal, Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux, John Carlson, Seth Jones, Braden Holtby, and Henrik Lundqvist.
Washington Capital’s forward Alexander Ovechkin was voted in by the fans to be the captain of the Metropolitan team, but he will not participate in the game, and the player to be named captain is still undetermined.
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Taylor Hall has a chance to have a teammate join him in the festivities, as the NHL added a new wrinkle to the way the teams are formed this year. They added a fan vote at the end to determine a “Last Man In”. Each team has one player that can be voted in, one from each division.
That player for the Devils is Kyle Palmieri! Starting on Thursday, fans can go online and vote for the last man in.
Kyle Palmieri might not be the biggest name available on the Metro last man in ballot, but he might be the most deserving. He has 20 goals and 15 assists for 35 points so far this season. Those 19 goals lead all players on the Metro last man in ballot. He has had a 30 goal season already in his career with the Devils, and he is on pace to break that plateau with relative ease.
Palmieri and Hall are a great duo on an NHL team, and they would make a great duo on an All Star team, so make sure you go online and vote!