Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, 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 Matt Duchene represented the team in 2016 and defenseman Erik Johnson 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 |
