15 NHL players who are deserving of an All-Star spot

The rosters for the 2019 NHL All-Star game in San Jose, California, were announced this month, and it reinforced an undeniable truth in sports: The thing sports fans love the most about All-Star games is talking about the players who should have made it but didn't.

The NHL is once again using the 3-on-3 tournament format that pits the four divisions against one another in a series of mini-games. That, combined with the fact that every team gets a representative, can make it difficult to get all of the most deserving players into the game.

With that in mind, let's take a look at 15 players who did not make the initial 2019 rosters but had a pretty good argument for being there. Some of these players could still get in as part of the fan vote to complete the rosters, but we are looking at this simply from the perspective of players who were or were not chosen by the league.

The Atlantic Division probably had the most deserving players on the outside looking in, mostly because it's home to two of the best, most talented teams (Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs).

Atlantic Division

Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs — Rielly is going to be one of the leading candidates for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defender and is having what is by far his best season in the NHL. As of Jan. 8, he was leading all NHL defenders in goals, was second in points and was one of the driving forces behind Toronto's great first half.

Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs — Speaking of driving forces behind the Maple Leafs' great start, do you know who their leading scorer is so far this season? It isn't Auston Matthews or John Tavares, their two All-Stars at forward. It is Mitch Marner, who is also among the top-10 scorers in the entire NHL. He is currently on pace for more than 100 points this season.

Jeff Skinner, Buffalo Sabres —  He is the second-leading goal scorer in the NHL through the first half of the season and along with Jack Eichel has been one of the biggest reasons the Buffalo Sabres have become relevant again this season.

Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning — The Tampa Bay Lightning have an embarrassment of riches all over their lineup, with established superstars like Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman at the top of the roster, great secondary players like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and J.T. Miller to complement them and still even more younger players coming through the system. When it comes to the latter group, Brayden Point has been the latest star to emerge, with 54 points in his first 42 games this season. His highlight of the first half was scoring a natural hat trick in just 91 seconds in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers — He is the best player in the NHL no one talks about — one of the best all-around players in the league who is equally dominant in both the offensive and defensive zones. He is one of the top players in the league when it comes to his ability to draw penalties while also being one of the least penalized. Just one of those under-the-radar things that makes him such a great talent.

Brad M archand, Boston Bruins — Yeah, he is a huge pest, but Brad Marchand is also one of the best and most productive players in the NHL. He has been one of the top-10 goal scorers and point producers for four years now and is always making an impact when he is on the ice. You hate him when plays against you, but if he is on your team, you absolutely love him.

Metropolitan Division

Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins —  Like Rielly in Toronto, Kris Letang is going to be one of the leading contenders for the Norris Trophy. This might be his best all-around season in the NHL, as he has bounced back from an inconsistent 2017-18 season when he was never fully healthy. There is an argument to be made that he has been the Penguins' best player this season, even ahead of captain Sidney Crosby.

Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh Penguins — Playing on a team with Crosby, Letang and Evgeni Malkin, it can be easy for Phil Kessel to get overlooked. (And maybe that is the way he likes it?) But he is still one of the elite offensive players in the league. And it is not just about his goal scoring. He is also an incredible playmaker and would have been a treat to watch in the 3-on-3 tournament.

Artemi Panarin, Columbus Blue Jackets — Panarin is a dynamic playmaker and the most electrifying player on the Blue Jackets roster. Arriving in Columbus was great for his career because it showed the that his first two years were not just the result of playing next to Patrick Kane in Chicago and that he is more than capable of carrying a line and being the top offensive player on a team. He is an unrestricted free agent after this season, and it remains to be seen how the Blue Jackets will handle that situation when they do not yet know if he will re-sign there.

Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals —  Consistently one of the most underrated players in the league, Backstrom is one of the best playmakers of his generation and the second-best player on one of the most successful teams in the NHL over the past five years.

Central Division

Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche —  The line of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog is the single biggest reason the Colorado Avalanche have a chance to  make the playoffs. It has been the best line in the league this season by a huge margin, they are all among the top scorers, and the first two are already in the game. In a perfect world, Landeskog would be there with them.

Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets —  Other than maybe Toronto or Tampa Bay, there may not be another team in the NHL that has the impact talent at forward that the Winnipeg Jets have. Two of their top forwards (Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele) are already in the game. The most impactful of their forwards, Patrik Laine, is not. Laine is only in his third season in the league, has not even turned 21 years old yet and is already one of the best goal scorers in the world. He has topped the 100-goal mark for his career and has a chance to record his first 50-goal season this year. And even if he does not get there, it is a good bet that he will at some point in his career. He might have the best chance to overtake Alex Ovechkin at the top of the NHL's goal-scoring leaderboard in the coming seasons.

Pacific Division

Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers — The Edmonton Oilers do not have much going for them outside of their best two players. The top player, Connor McDavid, was voted in by the fans as captain of the Pacific Division team, and for good reason. Even though he is not on quite the same level, Leon Draisaitl is also deserving of a spot in the All-Star game for being one of the best offensive players in the league over the past three years. Without these two, the Oilers would be the worst team in the league by a significant margin.

Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames — The problem for Mark Giordano is that he plays in a division that has a team with Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns on it. That team also happens to be hosting the 2019 All-Star game, so of course its top players are going to be there. The problem with that logic, however, is that Giordano has been better than both of them this season. In fact other than Letang and maybe Rielly, there is not another defender in the entire league who has played at the same level that Giordano has so far this season.

Sean Monahan, Calgary Flames — The Calgary Flames have not only been one of the biggest surprise teams in the league this season, but also they have been one of the best teams. At the moment, they have only one All-Star on the roster (Johnny Gaudreau) but could probably have four or five. We already talked about Giordano, but Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan are also all deserving of spots. We will focus on Monahan here because he is one of the top-10 scorers in the league so far and has been such a consistently great point producer on a Flames team that has not always been great around him until this season.