Kucherov, Ovechkin part of 1st projected World roster for 2027 All-Star Game

The NHL unveiled the logo for the 2027 Honda NHL All-Star Game on July 15, officially starting the countdown to the event at UBS Arena on Long Island on Feb. 5-6.

The All-Star Game will feature five teams -- Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and a "World" team comprised of international players from countries outside of the other four teams -- competing in a 3-on-3, round-robin exhibition tournament.

Each team will consist of 11 players: nine skaters and two goalies. The NHL and NHL Players' Association will select 30 players from each of the participating teams -- Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and the World team -- for the 2027 NHL All-Star Fan Vote, which will open in December. From that list, fans will have the opportunity to select eight players from each team. The remaining three roster spots for each team -- one forward, one defenseman and one goalie -- will be selected jointly by the NHL and NHLPA.

Although the NHL All-Star Game is still eight months away, NHL.com is going to take a first attempt to predict the rosters for each team and will revisit these predictions at times during the season. 

Today, editor-in-chief Bill Price, senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke and senior writer Dan Rosen give their early prediction for the World's roster (in alphabetical order by position):

Skaters

Leon Draisaitl, F, Edmonton Oilers 
Nico Hischier, F, New Jersey Devils 
Kirill Kaprizov, F, Minnesota Wild 
Nikita Kucherov, F, Tampa Bay Lightning 
Martin Necas, F, Colorado Avalanche 
Alex Ovechkin, F, Washington Capitals 
Artemi Panarin, F, Los Angeles Kings 
David Pastrnak, F, Boston Bruins 
Juraj Slafkovsky, F, Montreal Canadiens 

Who needs defensemen? Not this team. Sure, there are some who could have qualified. Germany's Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings and Switzerland's Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators received votes. Not enough, though. Not with this elite group of forwards that is headlined by Kucherov, who won the Hart Trophy voted as the League's most valuable player to his team last season. The native of Maykop, Russia, was eighth in goals (44), second in assists (86) and second in points (130). His countryman, Kaprizov, was tied for fourth in goals (45). Kucherov, the duo of Necas (100) and Pastrnak (100) from Czechia, and Draisaitl of Germany (97), were in the top-10 in scoring. Kaprizov (89) was 14th and Panarin, also from Russia, was 21st with 84 points. Slafkovsky, from Slovakia, scored 30 goals for the first time in his career. Ovechkin, a Moscow native, scored 32 to give him an NHL-record 929 and counting. Hischier, from Switzerland, and Ovechkin are captains of their respective NHL teams. All told, this group of nine skaters accounted for 803 points (309 goals, 494 assists) last season.

Goalies

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning 
Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers 

It'll be hard, if not impossible, to find a better goalie tandem than this duo from Russia on any of the other four All-Star teams. Vasilevskiy is a two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy (2018-19, 2025-26) given to the best goalie in the NHL and Shesterkin won it in 2021-22. Vasilevskiy went 39-15-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and two shutouts in 58 games last season. Shesterkin, albeit on a team that didn't come close to making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, still went 25-19-6 with a 2.50 GAA, .912 save percentage and one shutout in 51 games.