The NHL held its first All Star Draft on Friday in the reformatted All Star weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the new format, the NHL selected two captains and four alternate captains to draft their team from a group of thirty-six players.
Team Lidstrom, with veteran Niklas Lidstrom and alternates Martin St. Louis and Patrick Kane, selected Danny Briere with their sixth round pick. It was nice to see him go relatively early for the sake of his three sons in attendance. Kane described him as “a player I grew up watching,” referring to Briere’s time in Buffalo (Kane’s home town).
Team Staal, led by Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal with Alternates Mike Green and Ryan Kesler, ended up taking Claude Giroux in the thirteenth round.
I like the idea of the draft, as NHL executive Brendan Shanahan explained it as the best way he could think of for making it interesting to the players. I’m not completely sold on it yet – the on-ice product for the All Star game still has not improved enough for me to care – but I collected some thoughts on the draft.
• Seeing players like Jonathan Toews and Marc Staal sweating about being picked last was entertaining
• The prospect of the Sedin twins finally playing against each other for the first time in their careers has some draw
• Eric Staal showed the Carolina fanbase why they should be proud of their team, carrying himself with pride in his selections of teammates Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner
• The NHL gave the last player picked, Phil Kessel, $20,000 to donate to his charity of choice and a brand new car. Paul Stastny, the second to last pick, had to be peeved.
• Patrick Kane and Mike Green were terrible choices as alternate captains. Green couldn’t be bothered to take out his gum when mumbling selections and Kane looked like he kicked back a few too many before the event started
• If I have to hear the expression “my boy” one more time this weekend I’m going to lose it
• The host, TSN’s James Duthie, had an awkward interaction with goaltender Carey Price after pointing out that he was the last goalie picked. “What are you trying to say?” was Price’s quick response
The main focus of this weekend is for the NHL to showcase its talent in as entertaining a fashion as possible. The biggest demographic for the All Star game is under 18 (the NHL guardians comic book project goes in hand with this) and it’s successful in that regard. Without any real motivating factors for the players to compete, though, the game is still painful to watch in long stretches.
On another note, Giroux played on a line with former Flyer Patrick Sharp. Each scored a goal and assisted on the other’s. How great would it be for the Flyers to pick him up at the end of his contract in 2012?
