By: Jacob Tozer
It was an evening filled with some rivalries renewed, surprises, and questionable picks. This year’s edition of the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft did not disappoint. There were many questions leading up to the event including. Who gets the first pick? Who will go first overall? Who gets the distinct honour of being drafted last? All of our questions were answered and the drama was nothing short of what I expected it to be.
Much to the displeasure of the Ottawa crowd, Zdeno Chara received the first pick via puck flip. I personally felt that with his recent run to the top of the NHL scoring charts we would see Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin taken with the first pick, but Chara shocked everyone by instead choosing Malkin’s fellow countryman Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk, who is fourth in league scoring with 53 points in 49 games, has always been an underrated talent, and that is what led to the surprise.
The other team captain, Daniel Alfredsson, then selected fellow teammate D Erik Karlsson with his first pick, to a loud ovation from the people in attendance. I felt this pick was inevitable simply because of the fact that the event is being held in Ottawa, along with his next pick in C Jason Spezza, another Senator.
The draft was filled with a lot of teammates being selected, along with a couple of rivalries becoming apparent. Alfredsson selected all three Senators in D Karlsson, C Spezza, and LW Milan Michalek, while Chara selected his fellow Bruins in G Tim Thomas and C Tyler Seguin. Along with those picks we watched many rivalries brought back to relevance, including the battle of Ontario and between our two Stanley Cup finalists. Alfredsson did not select any Toronto Maple Leafs, which included RW Joffrey Lupul, RW Phil Kessel, and D Dion Phaneuf. Also, not one Vancouver Canuck was selected by the Bruins captain. Brothers LW Daniel Sedin, C Henrik Sedin, and D Alex Edler were all passed up by Chara, and Aldredsson was more than willing to oblige.
There was a lot less drama surrounding the last overall pick in this year’s draft with San Jose Sharks C Logan Couture quietly being selected. I think more was made of it last year simply because it was Phil Kessel who was selected, but Couture took it in stride and walked away with a new car for being selected last.
Below are the full rosters for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game.
Team Alfredsson
F ALFREDSSON, Daniel (C)
F COUTURE, Logan
D EDLER, Alexander
D GIRARDI, Dan
F GIROUX, Claude
F HARTNELL, Scott
D KARLSSON, Erik
D LETANG, Kris
F MICHALEK, Milan
F NEAL, James
F POMINVILLE, Jason
F SEDIN, Daniel
F SEDIN, Henrik
F SPEZZA, Jason
F STAMKOS, Steven
F TAVARES, John
D WEBER, Shea
D YANDLE, Keith
G ELLIOTT, Brian
G LUNDQVIST, Henrik (A)
G QUICK, Jonathan
Team Chara
F BENN, Jamie
D CAMPBELL, Brian
D CHARA, Zdeno (C)
F DATSYUK, Pavel
F EBERLE, Jordan
F GABORIK, Marian
F HOSSA, Marian
F IGINLA, Jarome
F KANE, Patrick
F KESSEL, Phil
F LUPUL, Joffrey (A)
F MALKIN, Evgeni
F PERRY, Corey
D PHANEUF, Dion
F SEGUIN, Tyler
D SUTER, Ryan
D TIMONEN, Kimmo
D WIDEMAN, Dennis
G HOWARD, Jimmy
G PRICE, Carey
G THOMAS, Tim
