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Islanders captain John Tavares will skate in his third All Star Game this weekend, and now will do so as the captain of the Metropolitan Division Unified Team.
The NHL announced some changes to the All Star rosters this morning following the absences of Chicago's Jonathan Toews and Washington's Alex Ovechkin due to injuries winwinknudgenudgesaynomoresaynomore. Now playing will be one of Ovechkin's Capitals teammates and a new player from the host city, which is totally a coincidence you guys he really deserves this.
NHL announces that Evgeny Kuznetsov will replace Alex Ovechkin on All-Star roster and James Neal will replace Jonathan Toews.
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) January 28, 2016
Ovechkin had been named the Metro's captain by virtue of being the division's top-vote getter. I'm assuming this means Tavares was second. But who knows. The league wasn't exactly forthcoming with the voting numbers in the wake of what will go down in history as the landmark Dread John Scott vs. The NHL Trial, which was recently fictionalized by PBS in its John Scott: Downton All Star miniseries.
But no matter. Congrats to Tavares for getting to wear the 'C' in Nashville for the 3-on-3 tournament. Even in a down year (relative to his other, stupid-insane-holy-cow-this-guy-is-ridiculous years), he remains the franchise's face and a fine, fine representative for the league's showcase event. Maybe this will be a spark that re-ignites the Islanders' captain and his team for the crucial final stretch of the season. At the very least, it could help him not get screwed out of another All Star MVP award if he scores another bunch of goals. Or...
John Tavares is now the Metro All-Stars captain. I believe the CBA says that's worth 5 extra points in the standings. #Isles
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) January 28, 2016