Vegas Golden Knights: James Neal And Marc-Andre Fleury Named To NHL All-Star Game

James Neal and Marc-Andre Fleury will represent the Vegas Golden Knights at All-Star weekend in Tampa Bay.

When I was looking at the Vegas Golden Knights roster at the beginning of the season, I didn’t know who was going to be an All-Star this year. The NHL at least has to pick one player from each team, so it’s hard for teams to have multiple All-Stars. However, after then league tallied up all the votes, there will be two players representing the Knights at the All-Sar Game in Tampa Bay.

The NHL announced all the rosters for all four divisions at the 2018 NHL All-Star Game. James Neal and Marc-Andre Fleury will represent the Vegas Golden Knights and Pacific division at the All-Star game. Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid will lead the way as he captains the Pacific division.

This will be Neal’s second All-Star game appearance and Fleury’s third. Both have had fantastic years for the Golden Knights, and both are up amongst the league’s best. But some fans are upset about these results.

In 12 games this season, Fleury has a record of 9-2-1 with a .945 save percentage and 1.73 GAA. The Flower has been an absolute rock in net, and he stole some games early in the year. Fortunately, it’s been smooth sailing for Fleury despite a concussion that set him back.

I can see why fans don’t think Fleury should be in the All-Star Game discussion. Some fans believe John Gibson deserved some recognition and even Mike Smith. But it’s awful hard to turn down Fleury since he returned from his concussion.

Neal, however, is an interesting one. He’s adding another great year to his resume’ totaling 18 goals, 11 assists, and 29 points. But some Knights fans believe other players like William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault deserve to be in the All-Star game and not Neal.

I’d be on board with Karlsson or Marchessault over Neal. They both have better stat lines than Neal by a wide margin. But there’s one problem with that theory. Due to this being a “fan vote,” Neal’s name brings a lot more buzz than Karlsson and Marchessault.

I don’t agree with the fans choice on this one, but it is what it is. I think the Whitby, Ontario native is a great player and he should be a force in the three on three. However, the NHL and the fans missed the boat on making some new stars like Karlsson and Marchessault.

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All in all, All-Star weekend should be fun once again this year. Especially for Vegas Golden Knights fans who finally have the opportunity to cheer their players on in a national stage. It’s one of my favorite events of the year to watch, and I strongly suggest fans view the highly contested skills competition and the three on three sessions to follow.