Tier 1:
Forwards
Line 1: Johnny Gaudreau-Connor McDavid-Mitch Marner
Why: It's either Gaudreau or Huberdeau for Top LW, I'd be fine with either one, but Gaudreau's playmaking ability gives him the edge IMO. McDavid is the greatest hockey player on Planet Earth. Marner will never get enough credit for how well he complements Matthews-their chemistry is off the freaking charts.

Line 2: Jonathan Huberdeau-Auston Matthews-Mikko Rantanen
For Huberdeau, see above. Matthews is the 2nd best hockey player on Planet Earth. Rantanen is the obvious choice after Marner (obviously though, you'd put Matthews and Marner on the same line in a real game).

Line 3: Kirill Kaprizov-Leon Draisaitl-Matthew Tkachuk
Kaprizov has done nothing but set the league on fire since his arrival last year, you could make a case for him to be a Hart finalist. Draisaitl is the 3rd best hockey player on Planet Earth. Tkachuk is a natural LW, but has played RW often this year with Gaudreau on LW and Lindholm centering.

Line 4: Alex Ovechkin-JT Miller-Patrick Kane
Ovi edges out Panarin and Kyle Connor for this spot due to his better even-strength numbers. Miller is having the season of his life. Kane has very quietly put up 88 points on a god-awful Blackhawks team.

Defense
1st Pairing: Roman Josi-Cale Makar
Duh. Moving on.

2nd Pairing: Victor Hedman-Adam Fox
Duh. Moving on.

3rd Pairing: Morgan Reilly-Aaron Ekblad
Reilly's having another terrific year. Ekblad was battling for the 3rd Norris spot behind Josi and Makar before he got hurt.

Goalies:
Igor Shesterkin, Jacob Markstrom
Shesterkin is obvious. Markstrom's had the more impressive season than Andersen IMO, as the Canes' D is better than the Flames'.

Tier 2:
Forwards
Line 1: Artemi Panarin-Nathan MacKinnon-Steven Stamkos
Panarin over Connor, IMO. MacKinnon has the 5th best PPG average in the league-84 in 60 games. Stamkos has played RW often for a while now, and is having a terrific bounceback year.

Line 2: Kyle Connor-Alexander Barkov-Vladimir Tarasenko
For Connor, see above. Barkov, overshadowed this year by Huberdeau, has 82 points in 62 games, and is a perennial Selke contender. Tarasenko continues to make Ron Francis look like an idiot.

Line 3: Jake Guentzel-Nazem Kadri-Elias Lindholm
Guentzel's quietly having a whale of a year. Kadri might have had 100 points if he hadn't gotten hurt. Lindholm's numbers have been a bit inflated by playing with Gaudreau and Tkachuk, but his defense has been criminally underrated.

Line 4: Filip Forsberg-Sidney Crosby-Matt Duchene
Forsberg and Duchene are having career years. Crosby's going to finish as a PPG player for the 17th year in a row. The only other player to do that in the history of the league is some guy named Gretzky.

Defense
1st Pairing: Devon Toews-Kris Letang
Toews got 2 2nds when he was traded from the Isles to the Avs. Highway robbery by Joe Sakic. Letang edges Carlson as he's better defensively.

2nd Pairing: Jaccob Slavin-John Carlson
Slavin is the one the most criminally underrated players in the league, he's an absolutely elite defenseman, even if he doesn't contribute as much offensively. Carlson's exploded offensively down the stretch.

3rd Pairing: Quinn Hughes-Charlie McAvoy
Hughes has take major steps towards cleaning up his game defensively this year. McAvoy is the obvious choice here.

Goalies:
Frederik Andersen, Ilya Sorokin
Andersen's having a resurrection year nobody saw coming. Sorokin wins the award for most unappreciated player of the year-he's got a 2.31 GAA (4th in the league) and a .927 SV% (2nd only to Shesterkin), all while playing behind (after Pelech-Pulock on the first pair) the likes of Zdeno Chara and Andy Greene. Heck of a year.

Hmm...is this all based off this year? if not...i got some changes id suggest.

Yes, that's why it's called the 2022 All-Star Team, and why the stats I cite are only from this year.

(Otherwise, Kadri, Duchene, Andersen etc. would obviously be out, Kuch, Point, Vasilevskiy, etc. would be in)

I'd take Toews over Rielly easily.

Very close offensively, but defensively Toews is miles ahead.

I'd also swap Kane and Barkov. Barkov's season is riddled with injuries, but he'd be competing for Top5 position in points had he been healthy. This man has no weaknesses in his game.

Other than that it looks good to me.

IMO, Reilly's offense is significantly better than Toews, while the latter is better on defense keep in mind that he plays with Cale Makar whereas Reilly spent a good chunk of the year playing with Holl.

100% Barkov is better than Kane, but Barkov is purely a center, thus he winds up being in tier 2, whereas Kane's been a winger his entire career, thus he winds up in Tier 1.

I mean Toews has more 5v5 points than Rielly. That's pretty impressive for a guy who's known as a great defensive D.

Also put Miller to the W. That's where he has played this year.

Has he though? DailyFaceoff has him at C. Also, can't say I've watched many Canucks games this year, but when I have he's been centering...

I think it's game by game. Nonetheless he's able to play both.

Edit: actually nvm, yes he's been playing C mostly this year. But he can play wing as well.

I'd still take Barkov over Miller too.

I'd for sure take Barkov over Miller as well, but this is only based on this season, and Miller's simply been better, he's carried the Canucks on his back. Barkov is easily the better player, though.

Bruh. Heiskanen and even Faulk over Carlson. Points ain't everything. And no way Reilly is over Toews or Slavvin.

Heiskanen is a LD, not a RD. Faulk (who I really like) is not better than Carlson, no chance. McAvoy I could hear an argument for.

I could understand putting Reilly below Slavin and/or Toews, but keep in mind that he plays for a far worse D than those two. Without him they'd be in shambles. It would be interesting to see how Toews/Salvin's numbers would look if they were thrown into the mess that was the Leafs' D for much of the year, and Reilly got to play with the Avs or Canes.

1- I know, I wasn't overly concerned with handedness there. Besides, he plays both sides.

2- Better or not, Faulk played better this season. Dude was a beast at both ends. And McAvoy is so far ahead of Carlson it's not funny. That's not even a contest.

3- First of all, those players are all big parts of those defenses. The Canes aren't as good without Slavvin, the Leafs aren't as messy without Rielly, and so on. But while we're at it, are we so sure it's the Leafs defense that is so messy?

20th in the NHL in GA per game
10th in the NHL in xGA
6th in the NHL in high danger chances against
All goalies combined = 21st in save percentage & minus 6.91 goals saved above average

Seems to me people overplay the "Leafs defense sucks" card a little bit. Just a side note.

Fair points. Faulk's always been an underrated player (got a steal by drafting him in the 15th round in fantasy). Carlson was like last year's Quinn Hughes-terrible at D, very good offensively though. I agree in retrospect I shouldn't have put him over McAvoy.