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draft was done Monday, January 23, it still has Jonathan Toews and Alexander Ovechkin in the pool, but they have since withdrawn.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 [email protected] or on twitter @NickObergan