It doesn’t look like any Penguins will join Sidney Crosby at the All-Star game

Early voting says it will be a long weekend for everyone else

Sidney Crosby was the Penguins’ representative when the NHL announced one All-Star from every team for the game on February 3rd in Toronto. Eight more skaters and four more goalies will be added via fan vote, and the first wave are out. Good news for Penguin players: they’re looking at more mid-season vacation time.

Canadian fans showed up, six of the top eight skaters play on teams from Canada. Add in Cale Makar and a New York Ranger and that’s the top players as of now. It’s a similar situation with goalies, though the Florida fans (!!) have stuffed the ballot box for Sergei Bobrovsky to break up the same old teams.

Nowhere to be seen is Jake Guentzel, who ranks 18th in points. Or a legacy name like Evgeni Malkin or Erik Karlsson. Tristan Jarry, a repeat All-Star in 2020 and 2022 is also MIA.

Pittsburgh’s bye week begins on January 28th, and they don’t play again until February 6th. That’s a lot of good rest time and a chance for many players to go somewhere warm and tropical and take a little break in the middle of the season.

Perhaps fortunately for the Penguin players, it doesn’t look like their vacations will be re-routed with a trip to Toronto. Well, all of them except Crosby.