Fans vote Avalanche's Alexandar Georgiev, Cale Makar to All-Star Game

The Colorado Avalanche's Alexandar Georgiev, who leads all goaltenders with 23 wins, and defenseman Cale Makar were among the players announced Saturday as winners of the official fan vote for the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto.

Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl and goalies Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins also were part of the initial announcement, which will be followed later Saturday by the remaining seven fan vote winners.

Draisaitl will be making his fifth All-Star Game appearance, while Makar will be in his third, Bobrovsky his second and the debuts for Georgiev and Swayman.

The 12 fan-vote winners (eight skaters, four goalies) will join the 32 players, selected by the league, as announced Jan. 4 for the game Feb. 3, which is part of the Feb. 1-3 weekend.

The NHL department of hockey operations selected one player per team in each division (including one goalie) to make up the initial eight-man rosters for each division. The 12 remaining players were selected as part of a fan vote from Jan. 4-11.

The league on Saturday is announcing the 12 All-Stars who will participate in the skills competition, held Feb. 2. The first five revealed are David Pastrnak of the Bruins, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Connor McDavid and Draisaitl of the Oilers and Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils.

The final players will be announced later Saturday, including two from the fan vote.

The first six skills competition events are fastest skater, hardest shot, stick handling, one-timers, passing challenge and accuracy shooting. The next round is a shootout, followed by a final event, an obstacle course.

—Field Level Media