Crafting the best possible lines from the NHL’s 2020 All-Star roster

The NHL’s All-Star roster for 2020 has officially been released, but what are the best line combinations we could see during the late-January tournament?

The NHL’s All-Star Game isn’t scheduled for another month, but the league released the tournament’s rosters to much talk on Monday. The list features 40 of the NHL’s best players from 31 teams, with four more coming in a fan vote later in January.

The 2020 NHL All-Star Game will head to St. Louis for the first time this season, as the reigning Stanley Cup champion Blues will play host to the league’s best for a few days of fun. The tournament has two parts, a skills competition that judges players based on how fast they skate or how hard they shoot and the main event of a 3-on-3 style tournament between the NHL’s divisions.

A handful of players will exempt themselves from the upcoming tournament — like Alex Ovechkin — so they can stay healthy for the upcoming playoff push. However, most of the 40 players on the roster will be in St. Louis at the end of January, meaning we can play around with the puzzle pieces we’ve been given to determine the most fun line combinations we can put together for this tournament.

The All-Star Game is a tournament meant to be enjoyed in a light-hearted manner. The players are obviously not trying their hardest, but they’re there to have fun amid an extremely long season. Previous All-Star Games have been incredibly enjoyable since the NHL instituted the 3-on-3 style tournament, and here’s who we at FanSided think could make the best line combinations from each of the divisions.

Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak

This trio of Atlantic Division All-Stars won’t need defense with the way they’ve put the puck in the back of the net. Between Matthews, Pastrnak and Eichel, the trio have 79 individual goals scored on the season as three of the league’s top 10 forwards this year. This line is offense and playmaking at its finest, and features some of the league’s premiere talent while they’re at it.

Jake Guentzel, Travis Konecny, Dougie Hamilton

The 2020 All-Star Game will be the first for each of Konecny, Guentzel and Hamilton, making this a “rookie” line of sorts for the Metropolitan Division. Guentzel and Konecny are two dynamic forwards from rivalry teams in the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, while Hamilton has crafted a Norris Trophy season for himself in Carolina. A gritty — no pun intended — yet offensively potent line no doubt.

Nathan MacKinnon, Patrick Kane, Alex Pietrangelo

Very much a veteran line for the Central Division. Between Kane, MacKinnon and Pietrangelo, the trio have 15 combined seasons of All-Star selection throughout their careers. Though this is a trio of players any hockey fan is incredibly familiar with, MacKinnon and Kane are top 10 scorers in the NHL this season while Pietrangelo is having a resurgence after having a down season last year.

Ryan O’Reilly, Alex Pietrangelo, David Perron*

This line will only work if David Perron is selected as the Last Man In for the Central Division, but an all-Blues line would be a lovely shoutout to the fans of St. Louis should that situation occur. The Blues have goaltender Jordan Binnington as an All-Star selection this year as well, meaning we will likely see a line of mostly all Blues players even without Perron’s selection.

Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Elias Pettersson

Sure, McDavid and Draisaitl already play on the same team. Yes, they’re one of the most dynamic duos in hockey right now. However, adding Pettersson to the mix as a 21-year-old with over a point-per-game in 40 games this season is an opportunity we cannot pass up. It’s just good roster construction, really.

Jakob Silfverberg, Logan Couture, Anze Kopitar

I also cannot pass up putting together an all-California line for any All-Star Game roster construction exercise. Kopitar is no doubt the veteran of this line, with this All-Star selection being the fifth of his career, while Silfverberg gets his first this season as the Ducks’ leading scorer. Will this line be able to keep up with any that features McDavid? No, but as a fan of the narratives this is an excellent line combination.