LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — For the first time since 2016, a rookie goaltender has been selected for the NHL All-Star Game.
Logan Thompson, of the Golden Knights, will be on the Pacific Division team for All-Star Weekend at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Feb. 3-4, the NHL said Thursday.
The last time a rookie netminder was selected for the game was 2016, when John Gibson represented the Anaheim Ducks in Nashville, Tennessee.
Thompson, 25, is 18-9-1 in 28 games with a 2.61 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage for the Knights, leaders in the Western Conference.
He won the starting job out of training camp after it was announced Robin Lehner would miss the season because of hip surgery.
“I’m just happy to be in the NHL and be a Vegas Golden Knight,” Thompson said Thursday night in a pregame interview with AT&T Sportsnet. “It’s exciting to be acknowledged by the league, but, yeah, I’m just happy to be here.”
After playing three seasons of major-junior for the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Western Hockey League, where his 2016 team won the league championship, Thompson was passed over in the NHL draft. He bounced around in the East Coast Hockey League and the American Hockey League before being signed as a free agent by the Knights in 2020 and playing with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.