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2019 NHL All-Star Game: Odds and Prediction

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Think the NHL is trying to grow its product in American warm-weather cities that aren’t traditional hockey markets? This year’s All-Star festivities takes place in San Jose, Calif. That follows Tampa, Fla., last year, Los Angeles the year before and Nashville in 2016. The Skills Competition has been moved to Friday this year and the All-Star Game on Saturday instead of Sunday.  The game will be played on Jan. 26, 2019. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET.

Point Spread and Betting Analysis

For a fourth straight year, the All-Star Game is played in a three-and-three format between divisions for one 20-minute period. The Metropolitan and Atlantic Divisions square off and then the Central and Pacific. The winning divisions then play a 20-minute championship game with the winning team splitting a nice cash prize. Each “division” is comprised of six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders. At least one player from every team is included.

It’s the second time San Jose has hosted. The city was supposed to in 1995 but there was no All-Star Game due to the lockout. It finally did in 1997 and the Eastern Conference beat the West 11-7 with Montreal’s Mark Recchi as the game’s MVP.

The super-stacked Atlantic Division team is the slight +240 favorite for this one, with the Pacific Division team right behind it at +250.

Breaking Down Divisions

The coaches for each division are chosen from which team in each has the highest point percentage at about the midway point of the regular-season schedule (Jan. 5). They are Jon Cooper of the Lightning in the Atlantic, Todd Reirden of the Capitals in the Metropolitan, Paul Maurice of the Jets in the Central and Bill Peters of the Flames in the Pacific. Peters is the likely Jack Adams Favourite right now as Coach of the Year.

One big-name captain is also chosen for each division. Those were Toronto’s Auston Matthews (Atlantic), Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (Metropolitan), Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (Central) and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (Pacific). However, Ovechkin is voluntarily skipping the game and thus will be suspended one regular-season matchup, which will be Feb. 1 vs. Calgary. Montreal goaltender Carey Price also is skipping. Reigning Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall of New Jersey won’t play due to injury.

The Pacific Division is the one to beat if history is any indication as it has made the championship game each of the three years. It beat the Atlantic 1-0 for the cash prize in 2016, lost 4-3 to the Metropolitan the next year and beat the Atlantic 5-2 a season ago. Vancouver’s Brock Boeser would be named All-Star Game MVP in 2018, the first rookie to take MVP honors since Mario Lemieux in 1985. The Canucks will be represented by another sensational rookie this year in Elias Pettersson, the clear Calder Trophy favourite.

Toronto also will be represented by John Tavares, who made five All-Star Games while with the Islanders. Tavares was the off-season big-ticket free agent and has been worth every penny as he’s on pace to have his best season and is second in the league in goals. How fun would a potential Atlantic line of Matthews, Tavares and Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos (from the Toronto area) be?

NHL All-Star Game Prediction

With the likes of Matthews, Tavares, Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner, the Atlantic has a ton of firepower. It wins the All-Star Game.