Other players on the Lightning had a legitimate case to make the squad too but were left off because the numbers just wouldn't allow it. Brayden Point ranks third on the Bolts for goals and scoring and is one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL. Tyler Johnson has been the hottest player in the League since December 1, scoring a NHL-best 12 goals from that date to now. And Mikhail Sergachev has proven he's a rookie in name only, currently ranking fourth among Atlantic Division blueliners for scoring.
Quite simply though, it was impossible for the Lightning to send more players to the All-Star Game because there were no more roster spots available once every Atlantic Division team had been represented on the roster.
"At first glance, there might be people sitting there saying, 'Well, Tampa's got a bunch of guys in the game because the city's hosting,'" Cooper said. "But it couldn't be farther from the truth, and I think when you look at that, and to be honest, I think guys have to prove themselves that much more to get in so it doesn't look like that. You look at the years obviously Stammer and Kuch have had, but you open up the stat pack and look where Hedman is, he's all over the place, you know top in points and everything else that really matters. And then what else can you say about Vasilevskiy. We're looking down at our lineup and saying, 'Actually, there might be some more guys that could be in there.' The unfortunate part to the whole thing is there probably are some guys in the league that have missed out as well. When you're limited to 11 players, there's so many guys that get left off the list. But what I can definitely say, when you look at not only the Atlantic but the rest of the league, everybody on there deserves to be there. It just goes to show the depth and how many good players are in this league."
The fact the Lightning have four All-Stars shows the depth and how good the Bolts have been so far this season too.