Tonight, we’ll find out who’ll be the Phil Kessel of the 2012 All Star game.  (Perhaps it’ll be Phil Kessel.  That would be amazing.)

At 8pm tonight, fifty of the best hockey players in the world (38 NHL All-Stars and 12 top rookies) will be up for selection in the Player Fantasy Draft.  All-stars and rookies will be divided into two teams  – Team Alfredsson (aka Team Pants), led by captain Daniel Alfredsson and assistant captain Henrik Lundqvist, and Team Chara (aka Team Chuck), led by captain Zdeno “Z-Big” Chara and assistant captain Joffrey Lupul.

Quick refresher on how the Fantasy Draft works…

• A coin toss will decide first pick, with Alfredsson and Chara, joined by their assistant captains, alternately drafting the All-Stars through 19 rounds
• Each team will consist of three goaltenders, six defensemen and 12 forwards
• Each team’s three goalies must be picked by the end of Round 10
• Each team’s six defensemen must be picked by the conclusion of Round 15
• The 12 Rookies will be divided by the National Hockey League into two groups of six.  At the completion of the 15th round of the draft, one NHL Rookie will be selected to choose which All-Star team his group will join for the skills competition
• As a reward (consolation?), the final player selected in the draft will have $20,000 donated to the grassroots hockey program of his choice

So who’s up for grabs?

 

Jamie Benn	Logan Couture
Pavel Datsyuk	Jordan Eberle
Marian Gaborik	Claude Giroux
Scott Hartnell	Marian Hossa
Jarome Iginla	Patrick Kane
Phil Kessel	Evgeni Malkin
Milan Michalek	James Neal
Corey Perry	Jason Pominville
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin
Tyler Seguin	Jason Spezza
Steven Stamkos	John Tavares
Brian Campbell	Alexander Edler
Dan Girardi	Erik Karlsson
Kris Letang	Dion Phaneuf
Ryan Suter	Kimmo Timonen
Shea Weber	Dennis Wideman
Keith Yandle	Brian Elliott
Jonathan Quick	Tim Thomas
Carey Price	Jimmy Howard

After he was selected as a captain, Chara did mention that he was going to take this draft very seriously and do as much research as possible, so it will be interesting to see what his strategy will be.  Think he hit up Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli for some pointers?

Will he take his teammate & Vezina winning goaltender Tim Thomas with the first pick?  Or will the events of this week and the recent revelation that Thomas does not have many friends amoungst his teammates sway Chara’s decision?

Now I’m no prognosticator, but I can tell you what you will see tonight.

• Ridiculous amounts of awkwardness.
• The Sedins  on different teams.
• Kris Letang’s hair looking awesome.
• James Neal’s hair looking like a porcupine.
• Scott Hartnell’s hair looking like a hot mess cavewoman hooker.
• Tight bums.
• Patrick Kane calling Toews to tell him he misses him.
• Awkward interview with last two players remaining.

One thing you won’t see…

And I for one, am gonna miss this.

Derp.

 

Tags: 2012 All-Star Game, Daniel Alfredsson, henrik lundqvist, james neal, Joffrey Lupul, jonathan toews, Kris Letang, patrick kane, phil kessel, Player Fantasy Draft, zdeno chara