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John Carlson and Braden Holtby named to 2020 All-Star Game

By Ian Oland

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December 30, 2019 3:24 pm

John Carlson and Braden Holtby will represent the Washington Capitals at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis. The nod marks Carlson’s second career appearance while Holtby will be appearing at his fifth straight.

According to the Capitals, Holtby’s five All-Star Game selections is tied for the second-most in franchise history (Alex Ovechkin: 11; Peter Bondra and Rod Langway: 5). It also marks the most ever by a Capitals’ goaltender.

The two Capitals will join the Metropolitan Division All-Stars for the three-on-three tournament held at Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Saturday, January 25. Alex Ovechkin, after being voted as the Metro’s captain, pulled out of the All-Star Game and will serve a one-game suspension.

“Thanks, first of all, to fans for voting me,” Ovechkin said. “It’s a hard decision. I have to listen to my body. I have to get ready for the second half of the year. I have to be healthy and focus on different things. It’s hard decision obviously being captain in All-Star Game but I have to do what’s best for me and my team.”

Carlson is a worthy addition to the All-Star Game as he’s been dominant in the Capitals’ first 40 games. Carlson ranks first among defensemen in points (50) and assists (37) and is tied for second in goals (13). He’s also the first defenseman to record 50 points in 40 games since 1994-95.

Carlson will attempt to defend his hardest shot crown after winning the event with a 102.8 MPH clapper last year.

Meanwhile, Holtby, despite some struggles lately, has been terrific for most of the season. The Holtbeast is tied for third in the NHL in wins (17). Holtby has allowed two goals or fewer in 12 of his 28 games this season. The Caps have posted a record of 11-0-1 in those games.

“One of those things you never really put much thought into,” Holtby said of being named an All-Star. “The game’s part actually not bad – it’s pretty fun. You just have to grind your way through the Skills part of it. Especially this year we have our break right before so it’ll be six days off then right into breakaways from the best players in the world. So that’ll be fun.”

Here are the current rosters for each All-Star team, which ultimately will consist of 11 total players (9 skaters and two goaltenders).

Atlantic Division (All-Star Appearance)

F *David Pastrnak, BOS (2nd)
G Tuukka Rask, BOS (2nd)
F Jack Eichel, BUF (3rd)
F Tyler Bertuzzi, DET (1st)
F Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA (1st)
D Shea Weber, MTL (7th)
F Anthony Duclair, OTT (1st)
D Victor Hedman, TBL (2nd)
G Frederik Andersen, TOR (1st)
F Auston Matthews, TOR (4th)

Central Division

F Patrick Kane, CHI (9th)
F *Nathan MacKinnon, COL (3rd)
F Tyler Seguin, DAL (6th)
F Eric Staal, MIN (6th)
D Roman Josi, NSH (3rd)
F Ryan O’Reilly, STL (3rd)
G Jordan Binnington, STL (1st)
D Alex Pietrangelo, STL (2nd)
G Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (2nd)
F Mark Scheifele, WPG (2nd)

Metropolitan Division

D Dougie Hamilton, CAR (1st)
D Seth Jones, CBJ (3rd)
G Joonas Korpisalo, CBJ (1st)
F Kyle Palmieri, NJD (2nd)
F Mathew Barzal, NYI (2nd)
F Artemi Panarin, NYR (1st)
F Travis Konecny, PHI (1st)
F Jake Guentzel, PIT (1st)
D John Carlson, WSH (2nd)
G Braden Holtby, WSH (5th)

Pacific Division

F Jakob Silfverberg, ANA (1st)
G Darcy Kuemper, ARI (1st)
F Matthew Tkachuk, CGY (1st)
D Mark Giordano, CGY (3rd)
F *Connor McDavid, EDM (4th)
F Leon Draisaitl, EDM (2nd)
F Anze Kopitar, LAK (5th)
F Logan Couture, SJS (2nd)
F Elias Pettersson, VAN (2nd)
G Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK (5th)

More from the Capitals:

ARLINGTON, Va. – Capitals defenseman John Carlson and goaltender Braden Holtby have been selected to participate in the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, the NHL announced today. The game will be played at Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Saturday, January 25.

This marks Carlson’s second straight selection to the NHL All-Star Game. He becomes the seventh defenseman in franchise history to receive multiple All-Star Game selections. This season, the Natick, Massachusetts, native ranks first among defensemen in points (50) and assists (37), tied for second in goals (13) and ranks fourth among all players in assists, trailing only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (41) and Leon Draisaitl (39) and Boston’s Brad Marchand (38).

Carlson became the first defenseman since Paul Coffey in 1994-95 to record 50 points in his team’s first 40 games and eclipsed former Capital Mike Green’s 43 game mark in 2008-09 (22g, 28a), establishing a new franchise record among defensemen. Only five defensemen, including Carlson and Coffey, have recorded 50 points in 40 games since 1979-80 (Phil Housley, Brian Leetch and Al MacInnis). Carlson is on pace for 102 points over an 82-game season. Only five defensemen in NHL history have recorded more than 100 points in a season (Bobby Orr: six times; Paul Coffey: five times; Denis Potvin, Al MacInnis and Brian Leetch: each once). He was named the NHL’s First Star of the Month for October after recording the second-most points by a defenseman in the month of October in NHL history (Carlson: 23 points; MacInnis: 25 points in October of 1990), becoming the first defenseman to receive the First Star honors since Calgary’s Mark Giordano (November 2014) and the first Capitals defenseman to receive a Three Star of the Month Award since Green (February 2009, Second Star).

Carlson has led the Capitals in ice time in 35 of the 40 games this season, leads the team and ranks eighth in the NHL in TOI per game (24:59). The Capitals are 20-5-3 this season when Carlson records a point. With six game-winning goals this season, Carlson is now one game-winning goal shy of passing Kevin Hatcher (6, 1992-93) for the Capitals’ single-season franchise record by a defensemen and two shy of the NHL record by a defenseman, held by Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2015-16: 8).

In 728 career games, Carlson has 453 points (103g, 350a). This season, Carlson has passed Sergei Gonchar (416), Kevin Hatcher (426) and Scott Stevens (429) on the franchises’ all-time point list among defensemen to rank second all-time. Carlson is currently 25 assists shy of setting the franchise record for assists by a defenseman in a single season, 32 points shy of setting the franchise record for points by a defenseman in a single season, 12 assists shy of passing Calle Johansson (361) for the most assists by a Capitals defenseman all-time and 22 points of passing Johansson (474) for the most points by a Capitals defenseman all-time.

Holtby will be making his fifth straight All-Star Game appearance. Holtby’s five All-Star Game selections is tied for the second most in franchise history (Alex Ovechkin: 11; Peter Bondra and Rod Langway: 5) and the most by a Capitals’ goaltender.

Holtby has posted a record of 17-6-4 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in 28 games for the Capitals this season. The Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, native is tied for third in the NHL in wins (17). Holtby has allowed two goals or fewer in 12 of his 28 games this season, with the Capitals posting a record of 11-0-1 in those games.

From Oct. 18 to Nov. 18, Holtby led his team to an 11 game point streak (10-0-1), becoming the only goaltender in Capitals history to post three point streaks of 11 games or more during his tenure with the franchise (2015-16: Nov. 12 through Jan. 14: 20-0-2; 2016-17: Dec. 29 through March 4: 19-0-2). He also became the fifth active goaltender with three personal point streaks of 11 or more games, joining Fleury (four times with Pittsburgh and one time with Vegas), Pekka Rinne (four times with Nashville), Sergei Bobrovsky (four times with Columbus) and Tuukka Rask (three times with Boston). Additionally, Holtby earned 11 wins through his first 15 decisions for the second time in his career (also 2017-18). Only two other Capitals goaltenders have recorded more than 11 wins through their first 15 decisions: Michal Neuvirth (12-3-0 in 2010-11) and Semyon Varlamov (12-1-2 in 2009-10).

In 448 career NHL games, Holtby is 274-114-44 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. Holtby sits in 46th place on the NHL’s all-time wins list. Among the goaltenders that rank in the top 50 in wins in NHL history, Holtby is the only goaltender to play in fewer than 500 career games and ranks first in win percentage (.612).

Headline photo: @Capitals

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