William Nylander snubbed for the All-Star Game for a THIRD time
Early this morning, it was announced that Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres would miss the 2023 All-Star game due to an injury suffered yesterday against the Carolina Hurricanes. With Thompson set to be absent from the festivities this upcoming weekend, the door was opened for another potential late call-up to be his replacement.
Who is the replacement, you ask? Twenty-two-year-old defenseman and former first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin has been given the opportunity to fill in for Thompson and represent the Buffalo Sabres this weekend.
Due to the NHL's enforcement of "every team needing a rep" at the All-Star Game, Dahlin will be the Sabres' representative despite other candidates who may be more worthy of the nomination. For example, many fans are of the opinion that Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander should have been named Thompson's replacement in the Atlantic Division, but instead, Nylander was snubbed for a third time.
Not to say that Dahlin, who is having a career year, does not deserve the achievement, but Nylander is having quite the season himself and the NHL elected yet again to leave him off the All-Star roster. As you'll recall, when Auston Matthews went down with an injury, it wasn't another Leaf who replaced him - it was Aleksander Barkov. Funny how now that a Sabre is hurt, another Sabre gets his spot.
Dahlin has 14 goals and 41 assists, tallying 55 points in 49 games this season while averaging a staggering 26:07 of TOI. As we are just halfway through the season, Dahlin has already surpassed his previous career high of 53 points with another 33 games left to be played.
Nylander is having the best season of his career as he leads his team in goal-scoring and is second on the team in points. Through 52 games, Nylander has 28 goals and 31 assists, amounting to 59 total points. Compared to Barkov (43 points in 40 games) and Dahlin (55 points in 44 games), Nylander is just as worthy a candidate and should have been named - plain and simple. But hey - it's Gary Bettman and we all know how he feels about the Leafs and Canadian teams in general.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 2 | 204 ANSWERS William Nylander snubbed for the All-Star Game for a THIRD time Was William Nylander snubbed from the All-Star Game? | ||
| 100% yes he was | 184 | 90.2 % |
| No, I don't think so | 20 | 9.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
