By Nick Obergan Last season saw a number of players named All-Stars for the first time in their careers: from Claude Giroux to Marc-Andre Fleury; Marc Staal to Cam Ward; Phil Kessel to Ryan Kesler. Here are ten players who have a real good chance at being named to their first mid-season event. Drew Doughty – Los Angeles Kings Considering Doughty received a Norris Trophy nomination two years ago, it is surprising to realize that he has never been an All-Star. But remember that in that Norris-caliber season there was no All-Star Game, there was the Winter Olympics instead, and Doughty was chosen to represent Team Canada where he was one of their better defensemen. His numbers took a bit of a drop last season (from 59 points to 40 and +20 to +13), but he is still one of the best young defensemen in the league, and so long as he doesn’t have a lengthy hold out for a new contract, should be booking a trip to Ottawa for this season’s game. Taylor Hall – Edmonton Oilers The 2010 1st overall pick scored 22 goals in his rookie season in only 65 games. After a season cut short by injury, an offseason rehabbing, and a team not expected to make the playoffs, many may overlook Hall despite his high draft slotting. But don’t sleep on the big, motivated winger, as it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him net 35 goals this season and be chosen as Edmonton’s All-Star representative (remember, every team must have some named to the event). Victor Hedman – Tampa Bay Lightning The second pick of the 2009 draft made great strides in his sophomore season, particularly in the playoffs where he had six assists in 18 games, while averaging 22+ minutes on the ice. Hedman isn’t going to light up the score sheet as often as Doughty does from the blueline, but he is evolving into one of the most imposing (6’6”, 230lbs) defensive defensemen in the NHL, while also being able to handle the puck more than adequately and skate better than his size suggests. Tyler Myers – Buffalo Sabres Myers was a first round pick in 2008, and showed every bit the promise in his Calder-winning rookie season 2009-10 when he had 11-37-48 and a +13. He encountered a bit of a sophomore slump last year (37 points, even plus/minus), but finished far stronger than he started. On a much-improved Buffalo squad, with the benefit of more help on the blueline, Myers could break out this coming season for close to 60 points and be named to the All-Star Game for the first time. Antti Niemi – San Jose Sharks While Niemi didn’t look great in the playoffs, he had a very good regular season last year, his first in San Jose after winning a Stanley Cup in Chicago. After a slow start to the regular season, Niemi went 22-5-3 with four shutouts from February to April. And despite the slow start he finished with a very good save percentage (.920%) and goals against average (2.38), so if he can maintain those peripherals and avoid the slow start the 28-year-old could be an All-Star for the first time. Alex Pietrangelo – St. Louis Blues The 21-year-old defenseman entered last season as the best prospect in the league after playing in only 17 NHL games in 2008-09 and 2009-10. His first full season exceeded almost everyone’s expectations, as he totaled 43 points in 79 games while playing to a +18 rating. The future looks very bright for this gifted two-way defenseman, and this season he could earn his first of many All-Star selections. Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators Despite a season worthy of a Vezina nomination (33-22-9, .930 SV%, 2.12 GAA), Rinne was not selected as an All-Star; nor was he selected any of the previous two seasons when he boasted a combined record of 61-31-11 with 14 shutouts and strong peripherals. Last season’s Vezina nomination could prove to be the turning point in getting more recognition league-wide and earning an overdue All-Star nod. Chris Stewart – St. Louis Blues The big sniper had a 28-goal season in 2009-10, and had 30 points in 36 games for Colorado last year before being traded to St. Louis. His arrival in St. Louis (for former number one pick Erik Johnson) was an absolutely success from the get-go, as he notched 15 goals and 20 points in 26 games for the Blues. Among a deep group of forwards for a playoff-hopeful club, Stewart should surpass 30 goals for the first time in his career, and thus could find himself playing in the star-studded event in Ottawa. John Tavares – New York Islanders With all due respect to those who vote for the All-Star rosters, Tavares was robbed last year; the first pick of the 2009 draft should have been the Islanders’ lone representative in the mid-season weekend gathering. He ended the season with 29 goals and 67 points. Granted, he was definitely hotter after the break (31 points in 33 games), but this 20-year-old has all the tools needed to average a point-per-game this season and leave the voters no room for error. James van Riemsdyk – Philadelphia Flyers Armed with a shiny new big contract, van Riemsdyk will need to live up to the new higher expectations that will be upon him. With the departures of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, van Riemsdyk will be needed more than ever to pick up his scoring, and he is capable as shown by his seven tallies in 11 playoff games last spring. Coming off of a 21-goal campaign, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the 21-year-old finds the back of the net 30 times this year. Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email [email protected] or on twitter @NickObergan