Chicago Blackhawks: 2018-19 All Star Snubs

Another year, another all star weekend. The NHL All Star Game is coming up this weekend in San Jose, California, where all of the league’s best players will meet up for a fun weekend full of exciting events. However, the Chicago Blackhawks fell short in sending players off to the sunny shores of San Jose.

The Chicago Blackhawks aren’t the best hockey team around nowadays, as they stand at 18-24-9, giving them the 27th worst record in the league. Despite being so low in the standings, they do have phenomenal talents worthy of being at the all star game.

Nevertheless, the only Blackhawk to be at the all star game is Patrick Kane, who is fifth in score with 71 points on the year.

In a dead season, it’s easy to pick out the negatives and point fingers, however the Blackhawks do have a few players who’re picking up the slack and having personal best years.

Here’s a list of Blackhawks who deserve to be at this years NHL All Star Game, but got snubbed.

Jonathan Toews

Jonathan Toews has been criticized the past few years for not being a top-tier goal scoring despite his $10.5M contract. However, this year is different for Toews. In 51 games he’s scored 22 goals and 26 assists, totaling 48 points.

In fact, he has one more point and four more goals than St. Louis Blues forward Ryan O’Reilly, who is only apart of the ASG because of the league’s mandatory rule that each team has one player in the all star game.

Overall, Toews is having one of the best seasons of his career since the 2015-16 season. He’s already surpassed last year’s goal total (20) in 23 less games, and is only four points away from his previous point total (52).

Certainly, the Central Division is full of great talents, but Toews definitely deserves recognition for having such a comeback year.

Alex DeBrincat

First off, no Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane combo in the all star game?

That’s a bummer.

DeBrincat has been a massive producer this year for the Blackhawks and has proven that he is going to be one of the best forwards on the roster for a long time. With 25 goals and 18 assists for 43 points on the year, the ‘Cat’ has proven to be one of the leagues best young talents. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get him into the all star game.

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DeBrincat is currently tied with Kane on the Blackhawks in power play goals with 8 and is currently the third best scorer on the team at only 21 years old.

It’s understandable that the NHL wants the best scorers throughout the year to be in the ASG, however DeBrincat certainly has proven to be a consistent scorer. Since the start of December he’s totaled 15 goals and eight assists. As a 21 year old, that’s pretty dominant play in a span of only 25 games.

Maybe we’ll see him in the all star game next season, as he can only go higher from here.

Colin Delia

This one is a stretch, yes, but it doesn’t take a microscope to see that Collin Delia is having a great stretch right now. Obviously, with goaltenders like Pekka Rinne, Devan Dubnyk, and Connor Hellebuyck, you have to be lights out nearly every night. To be an all star goaltender you need consistent stats from the start of the year up and through the new year.

However, since Corey Crawford‘s injury, Delia has been the teams’ number one goaltender, without a doubt.

Throughout Delia’s ten games this year,he’s 9-4-2 with  a .923 save percentage and a 3.00 goals against average. Seeing this team’s defense is mediocre at best, the goals against average is understandable.

However, the stat that stands out is his amazing save percentage. During his ten game stint since December 21st, he’s made an average of 36.5 saves per game. If you’re a goaltender who has to make 35+ saves per night, and you still have a winning record, you’re doing something right and deserve some recognition.

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Since his tenure is so short, he’s obviously going to be overlooked by some of the NHL’s greats. However, I wouldn’t doubt that he’s in strong consideration next year if he takes over for Corey Crawford and performs at the same level as a number one goaltender.