| 24th January, 2012 - 9:35 pm
 By Nick Obergan
Last year, for the first time ever, the NHL instituted an All-Star Fantasy Draft to select their All-Star Game teams instead of going with the usual East vs. West format. This new wrinkle was a big hit with the media, fans, players and sponsors, and it showed in television ratings.
This year they will be doing this format once again. As with last year, the hometown team (Ottawa Senators) captain (Daniel Alfredsson) will once again be captaining one of the teams, and he will be going up against reigning Stanley Cup Champion captain, and former Sen, Zdeno Chara. One difference is each team was only given one assistant captain each: joining Alfredsson is fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist; joining Chara is division rival Joffrey Lupul.
Last year we ran a mock All-Star Fantasy Draft here at RealGM with myself and Executive Editor Christopher Reina. This year, joining me will be one of the lead moderators and most avid posters in the NHL Forums here at RealGM, Nolan Drebit.
The rules last year maintained that all goalies had to be selected by the 10th round, and all defensemen by the 15th round; this year we used the 11th round and 16th round respectively, since there is one additional round of drafting. And since this draft was done Monday, January 23, it still has Jonathan Toews and Alexander Ovechkin in the pool, but they have since withdrawn.
The gentleman that I am, I let Nolan choose which side he wanted to start with, and he elected to begin with Alfredsson and Lundqvist, giving me Chara and Lupul.
Without further ado, the draft shook out as follows:
Round 1
Nick: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nolan: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Round 2
Nick: Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
Nolan: Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Round 3
Nick: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Nolan: Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
Round 4
Nick: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
Nolan: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
Round 5
Nick: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings
Nolan: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Round 6
Nick: Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs
Nolan: Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Round 7
Nick: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins
Nolan: Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators
Round 8
Nick: John Tavares, New York Islanders
Nolan: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
Round 9
Nick: Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
Nolan: Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators
Round 10
Nick: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Nolan: Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks
Round 11
Nick: Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues
Nolan: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Round 12
Nick: Dion Phaneuf, Toronto Maple Leafs
Nolan: Dennis Wideman, Washington Capitals
Round 13
Nick: Brian Campbell, Florida Panthers
Nolan: Alexander Edler, Vancouver Canucks
Rounds 14
Nick: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Nolan: Tyler Seguin, Boston Bruins
Round 15
Nick: Jordan Eberle, Edmonton Oilers
Nolan: Keith Yandle, Phoenix Coyotes
Round 16
Nick: Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers
Nolan: Dan Girardi, New York Rangers
Round 17
Nick: Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
Nolan: Milan Michalek, Ottawa Senators
Round 18
Nick: Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
Nolan: Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
Round 17
Nick: Marian Gaborik, New York Rangers
Nolan: Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
Team Nolan
| Goals | Assists | Points | P/M | Shots | Shot% |
|---|
| Alfredsson | 16 | 21 | 37 | 5 | 115 | | | Couture | 21 | 14 | 35 | 8 | 139 | | | Hossa | 20 | 32 | 52 | 24 | 164 | | | Malkin | 26 | 32 | 58 | 12 | 196 | | | Michalek | 23 | 9 | 32 | -5 | 124 | | | Ovechkin | 20 | 19 | 39 | -4 | 171 | | | Pominville | 17 | 30 | 47 | -7 | 142 | | | Sedin, D | 15 | 22 | 37 | -2 | 179 | | | Sedin, H | 11 | 41 | 52 | 12 | 70 | | | Seguin | 18 | 24 | 42 | 34 | 126 | | | Spezza | 20 | 30 | 50 | 1 | 151 | | | Toews | 27 | 23 | 50 | 17 | 148 | | | TOTAL | 234 | 297 | 531 | 95 | 1725 | 13.57 |
| Goals | Assists | Points | P/M | Shots | Shot% |
|---|
| Edler | 7 | 27 | 34 | 1 | 131 | | | Girardi | 4 | 13 | 17 | 9 | 66 | | | Suter | 5 | 22 | 27 | 7 | 89 | | | Weber | 10 | 24 | 34 | 15 | 139 | | | Wideman | 8 | 25 | 33 | -1 | 95 | | | Yandle | 6 | 22 | 28 | -6 | 120 | | | TOTAL | 40 | 133 | 173 | 25 | 640 | 6.25 |
| GP | Wins | Losses | OTL | SO | Goals | GAA | Shots | Saves | SV% |
|---|
| Lundqvist | 35 | 21 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 68 | | 1065 | 997 | | | Quick | 42 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 81 | | 1227 | 1146 | | | Thomas | 31 | 20 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 63 | | 945 | 882 | | | TOTAL | 108 | 62 | 31 | 13 | 14 | 212 | 1.963 | 3237 | 3025 | 0.935 |
Nick's Team
| Goals | Assists | Points | P/M | Shots | Shot% |
|---|
| Benn | 13 | 29 | 42 | 10 | 124 | | | Datsyuk | 14 | 39 | 53 | 21 | 126 | | | Eberle | 18 | 27 | 45 | -1 | 102 | | | Gaborik | 25 | 14 | 39 | 12 | 154 | | | Giroux | 18 | 37 | 55 | 0 | 124 | | | Iginla | 18 | 21 | 39 | -5 | 152 | | | Kane | 11 | 30 | 41 | 9 | 155 | | | Kessel | 26 | 25 | 51 | 1 | 170 | | | Lupul | 20 | 32 | 52 | 3 | 138 | | | Perry | 22 | 17 | 39 | -8 | 170 | | | Stamkos | 32 | 20 | 52 | 2 | 163 | | | Tavares | 19 | 29 | 48 | 2 | 178 | | | TOTAL | 236 | 320 | 556 | 46 | 1756 | 13.44 |
| Goals | Assists | Points | P/M | Shots | Shot% |
|---|
| Campbell | 3 | 31 | 34 | -1 | 77 | | | Chara | 7 | 20 | 27 | 28 | 134 | | | Karlsson | 7 | 40 | 47 | 7 | 166 | | | Letang | 5 | 18 | 23 | 9 | 74 | | | Phaneuf | 7 | 21 | 28 | 1 | 135 | | | Timonen | 2 | 28 | 30 | 12 | 71 | | | TOTAL | 31 | 158 | 189 | 56 | 657 | 4.72 |
| GP | Wins | Losses | OTL | SO | Goals | GAA | Shots | Saves | SV% |
|---|
| Elliott | 22 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 36 | | 569 | 533 | | | Howard | 41 | 30 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 80 | | 1088 | 1008 | | | Price | 41 | 16 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 100 | | 1157 | 1057 | | | TOTAL | 104 | 61 | 32 | 10 | 12 | 216 | 2.077 | 2814 | 2598 | 0.923 |
Looks like a good balance of teams here; Nolan's early focus on goaltending looks like a perfect counter to my team's slight edge in goaltending. And while my defensemen are slightly better statistically, his forwards have an edge in plus/minus.
As you can tell, I tried to play it like Chara did a little, by refusing to select any members of the Canucks. We will see how it turns out for real on Thursday.
Nick is RealGM's NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email Nick.Obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan |
