The countdown to the 2027 NHL All-Star Game has officially started, and the first projected World roster is already creating excitement. Some of the NHL's biggest international stars could play together at the tournament at UBS Arena on Long Island from February 5-6.

The NHL projects the World team as one of the strongest lineups in the tournament. The roster includes top stars like reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov and NHL goals leader Alex Ovechkin.

The NHL released the projection soon after the NHL revealed the official logo for the 2027 Honda NHL All-Star Game.

As per the report by the NHL Media, Bill Price, Shawn P. Roarke, and Dan Rosen picked Leon Draisaitl, Nico Hischier, Kirill Kaprizov, Nikita Kucherov, Martin Necas, Alex Ovechkin, Artemi Panarin, David Pastrnak, and Juraj Slafkovsky as the team's nine skaters.

The projection focuses more on high-scoring players than on traditional positions. Kucherov had another great season, winning the Hart Trophy after scoring 44 goals and 130 points.

Draisaitl finished with 97 points, Pastrnak and Necas both had 100 points, Kaprizov recorded 89 points, and Panarin added 84. Slafkovsky scored 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career. Ovechkin scored 32 goals last season and now has 929 career goals.

The projected roster also features two NHL captains, Hischier and Ovechkin, giving the team both leadership and experience.

Together, the nine projected skaters scored 309 goals and recorded 803 points during the 2025-26 season. On paper, the World team looks like one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the tournament. And the goalie selection makes it all the more interesting.

Elite goaltending could make the World team even tougher to beat

The same NHL Media projection picks two of the NHL's top Russian goalies, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin. Vasilevskiy made the projected roster after winning his second Vezina Trophy in the 2025-26 season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning goalie finished with a 39-15-4 record, a 2.31 goals-against average, and a .912 save percentage in 58 games.

Shesterkin also had a .912 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average in 51 games, even though the New York Rangers missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 2027 NHL All-Star Game will feature five teams: Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States, and the World team. The teams will play in a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament.

Each team will have 11 players. Fans will vote for eight players from a 30-player ballot later this year, and the NHL and NHLPA will choose the final three players.

These projections are only an early look at the possible roster, but they show the incredible talent that could be part of one of the strongest international lineups in All-Star Game history.

The projected World roster already features MVP winners, Vezina Trophy winners, team captains, and some of the NHL's most dangerous scorers.

The roster could still change before fan voting begins, but this early projection has already created high expectations for the 2027 NHL All-Star Game.

Which player do you think should be added to the final World roster but was missing from this first projection? Let us know in the comments. 

Read more at NHL Fan Central.

Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Kapil Manghnani brings over 4.5 years of experience in sports journalism, covering a wide range of sports, including Soccer, NHL, Tennis, Gymnastics, NASCAR, Swimming, and more. He has written for leading sports platforms, producing everything from breaking news and features to in-depth analysis, opinion pieces, long-form stories, and short-form content. Beyond articles, he has also scripted long-form storytelling videos for YouTube channels. His work focuses on delivering well-researched, engaging, and reader-first sports content across multiple formats.

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Edited by

Aadesh Dhote