Kucherov a deserving Lightning representative at All-Star Game

Is anyone surprised?
On Thursday night, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov was named to his fourth career NHL All-Star Game roster when the league announced the 32 players named to four divisional rosters with one player from each team selected by the NHL's Hockey Operations Department.
The All-Star rosters will be rounded out through online fan voting, with an additional 12 players set to be added ahead of All-Star Weekend February 3-4 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.

"He's one of the top players in the league and he's played like it," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper when asked about Kucherov. "It's tough. I look at all those names on the list, and I know they can only take one off each team, but wow, there's a lot of good players in this league that aren't on the list.
"But from our team, I think everybody knows who the guy was, and they got the right guy."
Kucherov has had quite the start to the first three months of the 2022-23 season, scoring 13 goals and adding 41 assists for 54 points through just 37 games. His 41 assists are the second-most among all NHL skaters, trailing only Edmonton's Connor McDavid, who has skated in three more games than Kucherov this season.
Kucherov leads Tampa Bay in assists, points, even-strength points (31), power-play points (23) and shots on goal (133). His 20:54 time on ice per game paces all Bolts forwards.
It seems like the Lightning's star winger is hitting a milestone or breaking a record every season, and this year has been no different. Kucherov recorded his 40th assist of the season in just his 35th game on New Year's Eve against the Coyotes, setting a new mark for the fewest number of games required to hit 40 assists in Tampa Bay franchise history.
Who had the previous record? Kucherov, of course.
He hit the 40-assist mark in just 37 games during the 2018-19 season that saw him finish the year with 87 helpers, the most in Lightning franchise history and the third-most in the NHL this century. Kucherov went on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies that season, along with the Ted Lindsay Award, after posting a franchise-record 128 points in 82 games.
It took Kucherov 33 games to hit the 50-point mark this season, tying Vincent Lecavalier (2007-08) for the fewest number of games to reach 50 points in franchise history.
Kucherov has meant so much to the Lightning organization, not only on the ice, but off the ice as a leader as well. He's served as an alternate captain for the Bolts since early November of 2022.
"He's become a prominent player, not only on the ice, but in our locker room as well," Cooper said. "There's players that lead in so many different ways and you think, 'Well the guy standing in the front of the line must be the leader,' but that's not true. Some of the best leaders we've ever had have been the quietest guys.
"He's one of those guys that has an influence on the team in such a positive way. He's just had to learn how to harness that and that comes with age and experience. For him, now, it's just another step in his journey as a hockey player."
Kucherov will surely climb many more steps with the Lightning throughout the course of his career. In fact, he's set to hit another milestone on Friday night when the Bolts take on the Winnipeg Jets in the 600th game of Kucherov's career. Already fourth on Tampa Bay's all-time points list, Kucherov's 670 career points are the most by any player in franchise history through his first 599 games.
"It's not a one-time thing," said Mikhail Sergachev on Kucherov's All-Star selection. "He's an All-Star every year.
"He's probably one of the best players to ever play the game, one of the smartest ones, for sure. He's a treat to be around and be with on the same team."
Online Voting
Online voting for the 2023 NHL® All-Star Fan Vote™ presented by Guaranteed Rate is now open at
NHL.com/vote
and closes on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Fans will be permitted to select as few as one player and a maximum of 12 players per online ballot. The maximum number of ballots cast per 24-hour period for each fan is 10.
The NHL All-Star Fan Vote experience was developed in conjunction with Low6, an NHL free to play provider.
How to vote online:
Twitter Voting
The 2023 NHL® All-Star Fan Vote™ presented by Guaranteed Rate also features a Twitter vote for the first time. The Twitter vote will take place over three days, from Thursday, Jan. 12, at 12:01 a.m. ET to Saturday, Jan. 14, at 11:59 p.m. ET. All Twitter votes will be combined with online vote totals.
How to vote on Twitter:
- Each fan tweet must include the complete hashtag "#NHLAllStarVote" followed by a player's full name or a player's Twitter handle. Only referencing a last name will not count. - Each fan must have an active and public Twitter account. - Types of eligible tweets: standalone tweets, retweets, reply tweets, quote tweets