MONDAY FEATURE: 2023 AHL All-Star Coaches Set; Who Should Be Playing In Laval?

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The American Hockey League (AHL) is hoping the third time is the charm for their AHL All-Star Classic as the annual festivities celebrating the top players, and coaches, in the league - on the ice with a Skills Competition and 3-on-3 tournament and off the ice with the AHL Hall of Fame induction ceremony - is scheduled to be held in Laval, Quebec on February 5-6, 2023.

The league's All-Star event was previously canceled the last two years due to COVID-restrictions as the 2021 event was originally scheduled to be hosted by Laval but the subsequent postponements have the Montreal Canadiens' AHL affiliate hosting the event next month.

The head coaches for each division's All-Star teams for February 6's 3-on-3 tournament were determined by which teams led their respective divisions through the end of play on January 1, 2023. They will be Todd Nelson (Hershey Bears, Atlantic), Greg Moore (Toronto Marlies, North), Neil Graham (Texas Stars, Central) and Mitch Love (Calgary Wranglers, Pacific).

Montreal Canadiens alumni Yvon Lambert and Mike Keane have been selected to serve as the honorary captains for the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic.

The AHL All-Star rosters for next month's event will probably be unveiled pretty soon here, so what better time than to give the list of players I would have named AHL All-Stars to this point in the 2022-23 season.

Of course, I'm well aware several of these players are currently in the NHL - and might not be coming back to the AHL prior to this year's All-Star Classic, or at all for that matter.

That's okay.

There will be injuries and call ups that change the league's actual AHL All-Star rosters as well between now and February 5.

Giving each team representation with at least one player was difficult, especially filling out a 12-man roster for the 10-team Pacific Division.

I'm sure you will let me know who I have missed, and will add an "Honorable Mentions/Alternates" section based off readers' feedback.

I think former Laval Rocket captain and current Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins assistant captain Xavier Ouellet makes perfect sense as the playing captain for the Eastern Conference, though Cal O'Reilly - who just passed AHL Hall of Famer Jody Gage for sole possession of seventh place all-time in league history with 545 career assists - wouldn't be a bad nod either as a deserving AHL veteran.

As far as a Western Conference captain, perhaps Andrew Agozzino (San Jose) or Brett Sutter (Calgary, recently played 1000th pro game) replaces an injured or called up Pacific Division forward?

So, let's take a look at Inside AHL Hockey's 2023 AHL All-Stars...

Atlantic Division

Coached by Todd Nelson (Hershey)

Goalies: Brandon Bussi (Providence) and Hunter Shepard (Hershey)

Defense: Sam Bolduc (Bridgeport), Connor Carrick (Providence) & Xavier Ouellet (W-B/Scranton)

Forwards: Will Cuylle (Hartford), Grigori Denisenko (Charlotte), Tyson Foerster (Lehigh Valley), Ethen Frank (Hershey), Matthew Highmore (Springfield), Jake Neighbours (Springfield) and Valtteri Puustinen (W-B/Scranton)

North Division

Coached by Greg Moore (Toronto)

Goalies: Hugo Alnefelt (Syracuse) and Malcolm Subban (Rochester)

Defense: Justin Barron (Laval), David Jiricek (Cleveland) and Darren Raddysh (Syracuse)

Forwards: Emil Bemstrom (Cleveland), Graeme Clarke (Utica), Anthony Richard (Laval), Trey Fix-Wolansky (Cleveland), Logan Shaw (Toronto), Egor Sokolov (Belleville) and Alex Steeves (Toronto)

Central Division

Coached by Neil Graham (Texas)

Goalies: Yaroslav Askarov (Milwaukee) and Matthew Murray (Texas)

Defense: Declan Chisholm (Manitoba), Leon Gawanke (Manitoba) and Joe Hicketts (Iowa)

Forwards: Riley Barber (Texas), Luke Evangelista (Milwaukee), Taro Hirose (Grand Rapids), Vasili Ponomarev (Chicago), Lukas Reichel (Rockford), Brett Seney (Rockford) and Sammy Walker (Iowa)

Pacific Division

Coached by Mitch Love (Calgary)

Goalies: Joey Daccord (Coachella Valley) and Dustin Wolf (Calgary)

Defense: Nikolas Brouillard (San Diego), Jordan Spence (Ontario) and Christian Wolanin (Abbotsford)

Forwards: Xavier Bourgault (Bakersfield), Michael Carcone (Tucson), William Eklund (San Jose), Kole Lind (Coachella Valley), Oskar Olausson (Colorado), Matthew Phillips (Calgary) and Gage Quinney (Henderson)

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