NHL.com staff selects its All-Star teams

Rosters for the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game will be announced Wednesday by the League's Hockey Operations Department, but first, the NHL.com staff reveals its picks.
Twelve NHL.com staff writers and editors were enlisted to select their own version of the four divisional teams to go along with the four captains selected by the fans. Each staffer had to select at least one player from each team in the division, finishing with a roster of six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies.

Each ballot was tabulated and the top vote-getters were named to the NHL.com All-Star team.
RELATED: [NHL announces coaches for All-Star Game | Stamkos, McDavid, Subban, Ovechkin honored to be All-Star captains]
Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos was voted captain of the Atlantic Division, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was selected as captain of the Metropolitan Division, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid was chosen as captain of the Pacific Division, and Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban was picked as Central Division captain. McDavid and Subban will be captain for the second straight season.
The 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game will be in Tampa on Jan. 28 (3:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV) and will use the same format as the past two seasons, with the four division teams playing in a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament.
Here is how the NHL.com staffers voted:

Atlantic Division

Forwards
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (captain)
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
Others receiving votes:Evander Kane, Buffalo Sabres; Mark Stone, Ottawa Senators; Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings; Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers; Vincent Trocheck, Florida Panthers; Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens
Defensemen
Mike Green, Detroit Red Wings
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
Others receiving votes:Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs; Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens; Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins; Keith Yandle, Florida Panthers
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Others receiving votes:Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
The Lightning, the top team in the League, dominated this roster on merit.
Stamkos was voted in as the captain. He is joined by linemate Kucherov, who leads the League in points (59) and was named on all 12 ballots. Hedman, fourth in the League in points among defensemen (31) and sixth among all skaters in time on ice (25:53), was selected by 11 of the 12 voters. Vasilevskiy, who leads the League in wins (26) and has a .935 save percentage, was a unanimous selection of the NHL.com panel.
No other team in the Atlantic had multiple players selected.
In one of the closest team races, Marchand was named to six ballots and made the team over Bruins linemate Bergeron, who received three votes.

Metropolitan Division

Forwards
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (captain)
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
Taylor Hall, New Jersey Devils
John Tavares, New York Islanders
Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh Penguins
Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
Others receiving votes:Josh Bailey, New York Islanders; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers; Anders Lee, New York Islanders; Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; Teuvo Teravainen, Carolina Hurricanes
Defensemen
John Carlson, Washington Capitals
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia Flyers
Others receiving votes:Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers; Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes; Noah Hanifin, Carolina Hurricanes; Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins; Zach Werenski, Columbus bBue Jackets; Kevin Shattenkirk, New York Rangers; Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Others receiving votes: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals; Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils
The Metropolitan team has a distinct Capitals flavor.
Ovechkin is the captain, Carlson is one of the three defensemen selected, and the team will be coached by Barry Trotz.
Tavares, the Islanders captain, was the only player, other than Ovechkin, to appear on each of the 12 ballots. His linemate, Bailey, missed joining the party; he earned the seventh-most votes among division forwards.
The defending Stanley Cup-champion Penguins had one player voted to the team -- and it wasn't Crosby. Kessel was on seven ballots and Crosby on four. Letang was the only other Penguins player to receive a vote.

Central Division

Forwards
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild
Others receiving votes: Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues; Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets, Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars; Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets.
Defensemen
P.K. Subban, Nashville Predators (captain)
John Klingberg, Dallas Stars
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
Others receiving votes:Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild
Goaltenders
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Others receiving votes:Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
This was the easiest division for NHL.com voters to reach a consensus, as the fewest number of players in any division (16) were considered for the 10 remaining spots. MacKinnon was the only unanimous selection.
Wheeler (11), Hellebuyck (11), Klingberg (11), Kane (10) and Rinne (10) each received double-digit votes.
Tarasenko received the most votes (eight) of any player in any division that did not make a team. The Blues were represented by Schenn, their leading scorer (17 goals, 26 assists, 43 points), who received nine votes.

Pacific Division

Forwards
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (captain)
Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
William Karlsson, Vegas Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas Golden Knights
Others receiving votes:Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes; Rickard Rakell, Anaheim Ducks; Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks; Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
Defensemen
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes
Others receiving votes:Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames; Alex Goligoski, Arizona Coyotes; Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks; Josh Manson, Anaheim Ducks; Hampus Lindholm, Anaheim Ducks
Goaltenders
Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
Others receiving votes: Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights; Mike Smith, Calgary Flames, Malcolm Subban, Vegas Golden Knights; Antti Raanta, Arizona Coyotes
The forwards selected to the Pacific team are a new breed.
Boeser leads NHL rookies in goals (22) and points (40), and was a unanimous selection to the NHL.com team.

The expansion Golden Knights have two representatives: Karlsson and Marchessault. Karlsson leads Vegas with 22 goals, tied for most in the Pacific Division with Boeser. Marchessault has 40 points, tied for fourth in the division with Boeser behind fellow all-stars McDavid (47), Gaudreau (46) and Kopitar (44).
Kopitar, who received 10 votes, is one of three selections from the Kings, who are in second place in the division, seven points behind the Golden Knights. He is joined by Doughty and Quick, each of whom was on each of the 12 ballots.