Editor's Note: Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.
Tomáš Hertl is going to play in the 2024 NHL All-Star Game for Team McDavid.
There was some question of that, after the Sharks centerman missed the last two games before the All-Star break with a lower-body injury.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
But Hertl confirmed that he’s going to play on Saturday during his All-Star Media Day availability.
Perhaps the biggest question was where Hertl would get picked in the All-Star Player Draft. Shades of Logan Couture in 2012 -- when the Sharks captain was the last pick of the All-Star draft -- there was some thought that Hertl could face the same fate
“Go last. The car’s awesome,” Couture said of the Honda CrossTour that he won for being Mr. Irrelevant in Ottawa in 2012. “My brother drove it for like 10 years.”
“I don’t know if I really want to be last,” Hertl said last month. “Hopefully, somebody takes me out of there.”
San Jose Sharks
Hertl, however, dropped to the last round, along with Vincent Trocheck, Frank Vatrano, and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
There was, however, no last pick, and Hertl, Trocheck, Vatrano, and Bjorkstrand found out who they’d be playing for via a random drawing of envelopes.