Ranking the Biggest Snubs for the 2015 NHL All-Star Game

Players don't much care anymore about all-star games. They make so much money that they don't need the bonuses for making the teams, and they have all the exposure they need as opposed to the days when you only saw one national TV game a week.

But the fans of their teams still do, and quite a bit if my Twitter feed Wednesday is an indication. The NHL announced its four division All-Star rosters for the Jan. 31 game in Nashville, Tennessee, and it didn't take long for many fans to get as worked up over the injustices of their players who didn't make it as the guy from Making a Murderer who is still in jail.

The intensity with which fans debate who did and didn't deserve to make the NHL All-Star Game is more than the game itself. 

This year, the league is going with a new format, which lent itself even more open to cries of "snub!" from fans and media. Four teams from each division, 11 players per division, with six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies. Every team has to be represented by at least one player, and four of the 44 players are voted in by the fans to be captains. One of those captains was John Scott, the seldom-used enforcer of the Arizona Coyotes. 

So we already have a great foil in Scott as to why pretty much every other player in the league was snubbed. 

This All-Star Game is already surreal in the fact that John Scott will be at Bridgestone Arena on the Jan. 31 and Sidney Crosby won't. Think about that for a minute. Crosby was not selected to the Atlantic Division team, despite heating up of late and the fact that he's still Sidney Crosby, the biggest name in the game. And yet, based on the format and the season he's had, Crosby probably didn't deserve to make it, which is why he's not even on my list of biggest snubs. 

I picked seven other guys ahead of Crosby in terms of the injustice of it all. The criteria for inclusion isn't just based on pure statistics, but obviously that's one. The snubs will be ranked in order from mildly outrageous that they were left off, to criminally negligent.

If you disagree with the list and want to add your own list, feel free to leave a comment. On with the slideshow...

7. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings

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No, Anze Kopitar's statistics are not mind-blowing (10 goals, 20 assists in 39 games). But that's still better than those of Corey Perry (11-14-25), who was chosen as one of the six Pacific Division forwards.

When you add in plus-minus (Kopitar at plus-15, Perry at minus-1) and the overall record of the Kings and Ducks, you're left scratching your head as to how Kopitar wasn't selected over him.

But this can probably be most blamed on the format, as Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick already and deservedly occupied two of the 11 spots on the roster. And, don't forget, this is the John Scott-captained roster, so this was the division that automatically was going to have the biggest snub factor. Thing is, Anaheim already had a player on the roster too, in goalie John Gibson. Again, blame the format, with two goalies needing to be selected. 

6. Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis Blues

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This is the first of a few times you'll see the name "Roman Josi" in this slideshow. 

Josi is a good player and having a nice offensive season for a defenseman (30 points in 40 games). But Shea Weber already had one of the three Central Division defenseman roster spots. Josi being a second opens the door wide open to some big-time Central Division second-guessing (more on that in coming slides).

Kevin Shattenkirk missed some time with injury, which hurts his case a little, as does his minus-nine in 32 games. But he has a higher point percentage than Josi, with 25 points in those 32 games. And Shattenkirk's puck-possession metrics are much better than Josi's. His Corsi For Percentage is 58.4, compared to 49.4 for Josi.

Plus, the Blues have been a better team than Nashville. No question, Shatty got the shaft. With the game being played in Nashville, it would seem the selection committee wanted to put as many Preds on there as it could get away with to pump up the crowd.

5. Mike Cammalleri, New Jersey Devils

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Mike Cammalleri had 35 points in his first 38 games for one of the more surprising teams in the league this season. Brandon Saad, with 29 points in 40 games on the worst team in the league, made it over him. But, hey, somebody from the Blue Jackets had to be selected.

So in the case of Metropolitan Division forwards such as Cammalleri and Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov, there were going to be snubs because of the format.

Cammalleri has been hurt of late with an upper-body injury, but should be back for the weekend. And the Devils already had one of the 11 roster spots in the very deserving Cory Schneider.

4. Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets

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The brutally tough Central Division was always going to be the toughest to pick, which is why this slideshow includes more snubbed players from there than any other. Blake Wheeler is one.

He currently is the NHL's seventh-leading scorer (40 points in 40 games) and a player whose speed and skill would have been fun to see in a three-on-three format. But big Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien wound up being the team representative, and it should be interesting seeing him have to haul his butt up and down the ice in 20 minutes of shinny hockey. Byfuglien already hates playing three-on-three hockey, as evidenced by comments earlier this season when he told the Winnipeg Free Press' Tim Campbell it's a "terrible part of hockey."

Byfuglien is the bigger name, however, which counts for something in All-Star Games. Wheeler still has no name recognition beyond the Winnipeg city limits.

3. Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks

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True, Duncan Keith missed some time with an injury at the start of the year, which probably hurt in the eyes of the selection committee. But it messed up in leaving Keith off the roster. First off, he'd be great in the three-on-three format with his legendary ability to play huge minutes. 

He still has 24 points in the 31 games he's played, for a team that is inching back toward the top of the Western standings. He's the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner, one of the biggest names in the league, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and won the Norris two years ago. For the voters to have left him off in favor of the hometown pick Roman Josi doesn't make sense on several levels.

Keith arguably deserved a roster spot over teammate Jonathan Toews, whose numbers have been down from previous years. Then again, it would have been just as strange not seeing Jonathan Toews in an All-Star Game. 

Blame the format again for this snub.

2. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks

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Corey Crawford continues to be something of a Rodney Dangerfield of the league, the guy who doesn't get enough respect. He's won two Stanley Cups with Chicago and currently has better goaltending statistics than both of the Central League All-Star selections (Pekka Rinne and Devan Dubnyk).

Crawford leads the league in shutouts with five, and his 2.22 goals-against average and .925 saves percentage each rank in the top 10. Rinne's saves percentage for a Predators team that has been sliding down the standings of late is .908. 

Yet Rinne got the hometown nod over the much more deserving Crawford. And the voters took the wrong guy from the Wild too. Dubnyk was chosen from Minnesota but Ryan Suter wasn't? True, picking three defensemen from the Central was tough, but Josi and Weber both coming from the same team—a team with a worse record than all the ones with defensemen listed here as snubs—doesn't look right.

1. John Klingberg, Dallas Stars

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His 38 points trails only Erik Karlsson's 42 for most points by a defensemen in the NHL. He currently has a five-game point streak and plays 23-25 minutes a night for a Dallas team that leads the Western Conference standings by eight points.

Yet, the 23-year-old Swede John Klingberg was somehow left off the Central team. True, the Stars already had two of the 11 roster spots in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, and leaving either one of them off would have been an even bigger crime than Klingberg.

But there is just no doubt that Klingberg deserved it too. None of the three Central defensemen have had anywhere near the kind of year he's had so far. There is always a young guy with poor name recognition who gets snubbed like this, and Klingberg is that guy this year. In future years, it will probably be made up to him by the voters.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @Adater