Avalanche center , who has become a Hart Trophy candidate as league MVP and is tied as the NHL’s second-leading scorer, was named to the Central Division’s All-Star team Wednesday and will play in his second consecutive NHL All-Star Weekend Jan. 26-28 in Tampa, Fla.
MacKinnon, 22, is among the six forwards named to the Central squad for the four-division, 3-on-3 tournament at Amalie Arena. The teams also feature three defensemen and two goalies. The all-star skills competition is the night before the game.
MacKinnon leads Colorado with 18 goals, 34 assists and 52 points in playing in all 41 games. He also has team-highs in game-winning goals (four), overtime goals (two), power-play points (17) and shots (136). MacKinnon already has exceeded his goals total in 82 games last season (16) and is just a point shy of matching his overall production. He is on pace to smash his career-highs in every major statistical category from his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season of 2013-14.
The Avalanche has just one NHL All-Star for the fourth consecutive season. Former center represented the team in 2016 and defenseman was selected in 2015 but did not play because of injury. The last time Colorado had multiple all-stars was 2011 when Duchene and Paul Stastny were chosen.
It’s currently more difficult to have multiple players from one team because of the divisional 3-on-3 format and the NHL insisting on every team have at least one player represented.
Nathan MacKinnon’s career NHL statistics
| Season | Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
| 2013-14 | 82 | 24 | 39 | 63 |
| 2014-15 | 64 | 14 | 24 | 38 |
| 2015-16 | 72 | 21 | 31 | 52 |
| 2016-17 | 82 | 16 | 37 | 53 |
| 2017-18 | 41 | 18 | 34 | 52 |
| Totals | 341 | 93 | 165 | 258 |
2018 NHL All-Star Game rosters
| ATLANTIC DIVISION | ||
| Player | Team | Pos. |
| Aleksander Barkov | Florida Panthers | F |
| Jack Eichel | Buffalo Sabres | F |
| Nikita Kucherov | Tampa Bay Lightning | F |
| Brad Marchand | Boston Bruins | F |
| Auston Matthews | Toronto Maple Leafs | F |
| Steven Stamkos (C) | Tampa Bay Lightning | F |
| Mike Green | Detroit Red wings | D |
| Victor Hedman | Tampa Bay Lightning | D |
| Erik Karlsson | Ottawa Senators | D |
| Carey Price | Montreal Canadiens | G |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy | Tampa Bay Lightning | G |
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| CENTRAL DIVISION | ||
| Player | Team | Pos. |
| Patrick Kane | Chicago Blackhawks | F |
| Nathan MacKinnon | Colorado Avalanche | F |
| Brayden Schenn | St. Louis Blues | F |
| Tyler Seguin | Dallas Stars | F |
| Eric Staal | Minnesota Wild | F |
| Blake Wheeler | Winnipeg Jets | F |
| John Klingberg | Dallas Stars | D |
| Alex Pietrangelo | St. Louis Blues | D |
| P.K. Subban (C) | Nashville Predators | D |
| Connor Hellebuyck | Winnipeg Jets | G |
| Pekka Renne | Nashville Predators | G |
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| METROPOLITAN DIVISION | ||
| Player | Team | Pos. |
| Josh Bailey | New York Islanders | F |
| Sidney Crosby | Pittsburgh Penguins | F |
| Claude Giroux | Philadelphia Flyers | F |
| Taylor Hall | New Jersey Devils | F |
| Alex Ovechkin (C) | Washington Capitals | F |
| John Tavares | New York Islanders | F |
| Noah Hanifin | Carolina Hurricanes | D |
| Seth Jones | Columbus Blue Jackets | D |
| Kris Letang | Pittsburgh Penguins | D |
| Braden Holtby | Washington Capitals | G |
| Henrik Lundqvist | New York Rangers | G |
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| PACIFIC DIVISION | ||
| Player | Team | Pos. |
| Brock Boeser | Vancouver Canucks | F |
| Johnny Gaudreau | Calgary Flames | F |
| Anze Kopitar | Los Angeles Kings | F |
| Connor McDavid (C) | Edmonton Oilers | F |
| James Neal | Vegas Golden Knights | F |
| Richard Rakell | Anaheim Ducks | F |
| Brent Burns | San Jose Sharks | D |
| Drew Doughty | Los Angeles Kings | D |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | Arizona Coyotes | D |
| Marc-Andre Fleury | Vegas Golden Knights | G |
| Jonathan Quick | Los Angeles Kings | G |
