WWYDW: Hey now, you’re an All-Star

In case you didn’t know already, Auston Matthews is an NHL All-Star and he’s damn well sure of himself for it. Given the way the Leafs have played this year though, there were a few surprised that they didn’t have more people participating; but that’s a product of the system.

Each division is only able to send eleven players; six forwards, three defencemen, and a goalie. In the Atlantic, that gives you only three bonus players on top of the one per team. The system that the Atlantic went with seems to make sense; both teams with goalies (Montreal and Boston, Carey Price and Tuukka Rask) have an extra skater (Shea Weber and Brad Marchand), and as for the Tampa Bay Lightning, its hard to take away from the years that both Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman had.

It’s unfortunate numbers, but hey, what if it wasn’t?

Last year, Toronto had Leo Komarov as their representative, but it’s pretty undeniable that he was there because they needed a rep, rather than because he was truly worthy of an All-Star selection. This year, though, there are cases that can be argued for all sorts of players up and down the lineup, in multiple positions, to fill a role.

So I guess my question is this: if Matthews wasn’t around, or if the Leafs were able to bring a second representative, who would you give the nod to? As well, how many players do you think could legitimately be argued as deserving from this roster?

Leave your response in the comments below.