Mikko Rantanen named to the Central Division All-Star Team, Gabe Landeskog eligible for Fan Vote

A couple weeks ago, Nathan MacKinnon was named the captain for the Central Division team at the 2019 NHL All-Star weekend in San Jose. Now we have confirmation that he will be joined by his Colorado Avalanche teammate as Mikko Rantanen has been named an all star as well.

This morning the NHL announced the remaining 9 players for each All-Star team with the final roster spot being named as a part of a fan vote later this month.

Today’s announcement was merely a formality as we knew Mikko was going to be joining his linemate in San Jose. Rantanen has been among the best forwards in the league and has spent most of the season at or near the top of the NHL’s scoring race.

On pace for one of the best offensive seasons in recent memory, Rantanen trails only Nikita Kucherov for the league lead in both assists (45) and points (62).

After a breakout season in 2017-18, Rantanen began this year on fire and was named the first star of the month back in October. He’s turned from a good player into a great one but still seems underappreciated league-wide despite being the front-runner for the Art Ross Trophy through the first half of the season.

This will be Mikko’s first appearance at the All-Star Game.

Here is a look at the rest of the All Stars:

UPDATE: FAN-VOTE

In order to fill out the All-Star rosters for each Divisional team, a fan vote will be held from Thursday January 2nd at 10:00am MT, up until January 10th. One player from each team has been selected for the vote. Captain Gabriel Landeskog is our nominee.