Captains Prepare For All-Star Draft

With the NHL All-Star game set for this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, there is still much to be determined prior to puck drop on Sunday.

Of the 42 players who will take part in the game, six players were chosen as captains and co-captains for their team.

Team Lidstrom will consist of captain Niklas Lidstrom, and co-captains Martin St. Louis and Patrick Kane; while Team Staal will consist of captain Eric Staal, and assistants Mike Green and Ryan Kesler.

Each side, after much deliberation, will then choose players in an 18-round fantasy draft that will determine the teams for the game. The only stipulations in the draft are that all goalies must be taken by Round 10, while all defencemen must be gone by Round 15.

This is the first time that the NHL has implemented the All-Star game draft style, and it seems as though Lidstrom is at least accepting of the change.

“I like the new format,” he said in a press conference this week. “I’ve been part of some other formats, and I like the change. Having a draft like this, it’s something we’ve never done before. So I’m looking forward to the new change.”

His counterpart captain Staal, agreed.

“You haven’t seen anything like this in pro sports before,” Staal said in his media call this week. “And I think in this day and age with all of the football pools, the hockey pools, the baseball pools, the sports fans pay attention to that kind of stuff. Why not have the athletes themselves kind of in that same mix for an All-Star event.

One of the biggest questions posed this week was about who was going to draft goaltender Cam Ward, a member of Staal’s hockey family,

“I know he [Staal] wants Cam on his team being in front of the home crowd and everything,” Lidstrom said.  “So it might be a good strategy to take him and maybe get the crowd on our side a little bit.”

Staal felt as though he’d have to get Ward on his team even if Lidstrom did end up drafting him first, mostly to make the fans in attendance happy.

“I would have to figure out something as far as making a trade,” Eric said.  “If he won the coin flip and ended up taking Cam first, I don’t think it would be as fun for our fans to be honest. I think we would have to have all of us on the same team and let  the home crowd cheer for one team.”

As for the other players, Lidstrom was vague but said the process should be fun when discussing who he thinks he will draft when he steps up to the podium Friday night.

“Do you look down the list now and say; ‘boy, I’d really want to play with that guy and I’m going to pick him just because I’ve always wanted to play with him,’” he said.  “Or do you pick guys because, you know what, they might help you in a skills competition?”

Staal had a little different tactic when approaching a similar question.

“I have two alternates in [Mike] Green and [Ryan] Kesler that can do some real thinking for me,” he said laughing.

But in all honesty, Staal felt as though there really isn’t a fool proof plan to figuring out who to draft since the caliber of players is so high.

“Obviously goal scoring is a premium in the All-Star game, and goalkeeping, too, and defence,” he said.  “We are going to enjoy it, the three of us getting together and trying to figure out a game plan and making our picks.”

The problem with All-Star games is that many people lose interest after the drop of the puck due to the lack of intensity from the players involved.

Lidstrom believes with the new format, as well with a fresh, young group of players, that there will be a higher compete level than in previous years.

“We’re going to have fun with it,” he said.  “But I still think the competitiveness is going to come out, too.  Being the first time and everything [with the draft scenario], you want to win that game.”