The Columbus Blue Jackets have quite a few players who can be considered at “all-star” level this season.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are currently second in the Metropolitan division and as such, they should expect to have quite a few players on their way to San Jose for the All-Star weekend. This is be a big change compared to last season, when the Blue Jackets only player was Zach Werenski who replaced an ill Seth Jones.
The NHL put four options for the fans to vote in as the Metropolitan Division captain, however the only realistic options this season would be Seth Jones or Artemi Panarin. Sergei Bobrovsky and Nick Foligno aren’t at that level to this point.
The unfortunate thing for the Blue Jackets is, despite the team having a lot of overachievers to this point in the season, the rest of the Metro has been pretty much the same in that regard. As a result, it’s likely we’ll only see one or two Blue Jackets hit the ice on January 26th in San Jose.
Each team typically ices three lines of three and two goaltenders and with the rule that each team needs to have a representative, that leaves only three open spots for duplicate team players. The Capitals and Penguins will almost certainly get multiple players, even with the Penguins’ struggles this season. As a result that leaves the remaining six teams a single spot to battle over and the Jackets would seem like the favorites to take the final spot.