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All Pacific Division

July 22, 2019, 10:53 AM ET [112 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Later last week, I decided to try create an all star team from each division. The Metropolitan Division can be found here. The Atlantic Division can be found here


Today I will be focusing on the Pacific Division.

The rules

My parameters are that you can only take one player from each team in the division.

You need to have a regular starting lineup with a center, right wing, left wing, right defense, left defense, and goalie.

There will be two bench positions for an eight team division. I’m going to take one forward and one defenseman.

I am using cap friendly to guide me on the positions.

So far I’d rank my Atlantic team above the Metropolitan one. I think the Pacific Division is probably the best of the bunch so far. The caliber of players and the ability to slot them was perfect. Good luck beating this team.

Connor McDavid, Center

He is the best player in the NHL. He is being wasted in a hopeless hellscape. This young man needs to take ownership of his career and stop trying to appeal to hockey culture and “doing right” by his employer. Demand a trade and escape or live with the what could have been.

Elias Pettersson, Left Wing

Thank you, Cap Friendly. I’m not sure what I would have done selecting a Canucks player if I didn’t have Pettersson eligible for this left wing slot. Pettersson is the perfect modern player. He’s exciting to watch and super talented. The Canucks have something really great with Petterson, Boeser, and likely Hughes. It’s just to bad they’ve been Benning’d.

Mark Stone, Right Wing

Mark Stone can drive a line on his own. He’s one of the very best all-around players in the league. He gets to play with Connor McDavid on this team and that would be outrageously fun to watch. There aren’t many right wingers I would pick over Stone at the present moment and the Pacific Division team is lucky to have him. He’s a legit Selke candidate who can also drive offense. Seems like a nice combo.

Mark Giordano, Left Defense

The reigning Norris Trophy winner is an easy choice for this team. Giordano has been elite for a number of years. The forwards on this team are top end and their jobs are going to be made easier with having a guy like Giordano feeding them the puck. Just look at this guy



Erik Karlsson, Right Defense

There are some really talented Sharks forwards I could have gone with. If Cap Friendly didn’t gift me the Pettersson selection I probably would have gone with Logan Couture (also a gift). Hell, Brent Burns is a ridiculously easy choice here, too. Karlsson and Burns are probably the two right defensemen I like the most in the league and they both happen to play for the same team. You really can’t go wrong. I do think Karlsson is the better player and should have had a Nicklas Lidstrom-like run at the Norris Trophy. The Hockey Men have been slow to come around on the idea that defending the opposition isn’t as useful as being the player who always has the puck and puts the opposition on their heels.



John Gibson, Goaltender

I “settled” for Henrik Lundqvist and Carey Price on the other teams. With the way the Pacific Division went I’m pretty sure I “settled” for the best goalie in the division. Gibson was robbed of being a Vezina Trophy finalist because NHL general managers still think goalie wins is the most important tool in evaluating the position. Gibson shined on a Randy Carlyle run team the past couple of years and is the only reason the Ducks have been somewhat relevant in a bad division. If he were to change environments his name would ring out even more. Thrilled to have him on this team.

Anze Kopitar, Forward Reserve


Talk about a great “depth” player. Kopitar is more Jonthan Toews than Jonathan Toews is. He actually gets the hard minutes. His defensive zone starts match what you would think an all-around center would get and his offense is right there with Toews. When you look at Toews and his defensive zone starts they are not where you think they’d be considering his reputation. When you look at the rest of the Kings I’m lucky to have Kopitar in a reserve role on this team.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Another great option for depth. The Coyotes are a strange team where most of the high-end names on their roster don’t even play in the league anymore. Don’t get me wrong I would have loved to add Phil Kessel on this team, but I wasn’t going to take Drew Doughty after the season he just had



Kopitar and Ekman-Larsson > Kessel and Doughty

This team kicks ass. Going to be tough for the Central Divison to outdo it.

Thanks for reading!
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