Expert Blasts Brad Marchand’s NHL All-Star Game Snub As ‘Absurd’

If Brad Marchand’s absence from the 2020 NHL All-Star Game offends him, he might have good reason.

ESPN fantasy hockey analyst Victoria Matiash named the Boston Bruins left wing as the victim of the biggest snub of this year’s All-Star Game selections. Marchand’s 58 points are the third-highest in the NHL halfway through the regular season, but voters and selectors somehow overlooked him for All-Star recognition.

“Have we ever had an eventual Hart Trophy finalist purposefully snubbed for that same season’s All-Star Game? Only McDavid and Draisaitl have more points than Marchand, and yet the Bruins’ game-changer isn’t even included on the “Last Man In” ballot,” Matiash wrote Monday. “It’s absurd. What’s worse, next month’s gathering in St. Louis will be altogether a lesser event without the league’s most notorious villain involved.”

The All-Star Game will take place Jan. 25 in St. Louis at Enterprise Center.

David Pastrnak will represent the Bruins as the Atlantic Division captain, as will Tuukka Rask. Patrice Bergeron is Boston’s finalist in the last-man vote.

However, Marchand’s snub remains a source of irritation for Bruins fans, who have enjoyed his valuable contribution’s to Boston’s success to date. And they’re not alone, as Matiash argument proves.