The 2012 NHL All-Star weekend is rapidly approaching and, although it looked like the Minnesota Wild were going to be shut out of the event, that's no longer the case. Mikko Koivu won't be attending as he continues to recover from an upper-body injury, but rookie Nick Johnson has been selected to represent the Wild this weekend in Ottawa.
Johnson, a rookie this season, is replacing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as the rookie in the All-Star Skills Competition on Saturday. If anyone's unfamiliar with what that consists of, Johnson will be competing in the following competitions: Fastest Skater, Breakaway Challenge, Accuracy Shooting, Skills Challenge Relay, Hardest Shot and the Elimination Shootout
."We're real happy for him," Head Coach Mike Yeo said on the team's website. "It's quite an honor, and I'm sure he's pretty excited about it. We're excited for him. I don't know if he would have expected, necessarily, that at this time of the year he'd be playing on the first line and going to the all star game, but it's a real credit to him."
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