L.A. to host NHL all-star weekend

Suddenly, Los Angeles is the place to be.

Within the last year, L.A. has welcomed two NHL teams into its city limits and on Jan. 28 and 29, it will also be the host of the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Game.

The weekend format begins on Saturday at 7 p.m Eastern Standard Time with the Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition. Each division’s top players will team up to display the best of their abilities on the ice. The winning division will be granted the right to choose who they will play for their semi-final game on Sunday, as well as whether they will play first or second starting at 3 p.m. The overall winner of the three-on-three tournament will win $1 million dollars. Each game will only span two ten-minute periods.

The host city’s own team, the Los Angeles Kings, is currently celebrating their 50th anniversary. The National Hockey League is currently celebrating its Centennial and can expect Ambassador of Celebrations Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky to be in attendance.

The teams leading each division at the time of the announcement of each roster determines what four coaches will be in L.A. The Central Division will see Bruce Boudreau of the Minnesota Wild; the Metropolitan Division will see John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets; the Pacific Division will see Peter DeBoer of the San Jose Sharks and the Atlantic Division will see Michel Therrien of the Montreal Canadiens.

The players are chosen by fan voting and the top rated players are the captains. Carey Price goalie of the Montreal Canadiens will be captain of the Atlantic and Sidney Crosby forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins will be caption of the Metropolitan. P.K. Subban defensemen of the Nashville Predators will lead the Central division and Connor McDavid forward of the Edmonton Oilers will lead the Pacific Division.

Locally, Minnesota Wild players Ryan Suter and Devan Dubnyk will join Coach Boubreau in L.A. next weekend. Suter, defensemen for The Wild, leads the league in plus/minus rating and is second for time on ice per game (TOI). Dubnyk, who plays goalie, is first in the league with a 1.88 goals against average and a .936 save percentage. He is second for wins with 24 and is tied for second with Tukka Rask for shutouts with five.