Special Edition: All-Star Draft Day

After much anticipation, Nick Lidstrom and Eric Staal finally took to the stage in Raleigh NC Friday night and picked the teams that will play in the All-Star festivities this week. I have to give Brendan Shanahan credit, he took a boring annual event that was the All-Star game and as of right now, the event is already a lot more entertaining. We saw families divided, families reunited and team mates trash talking each other. The players seemed to  have a lot more fun then they usually do at an event like this and that should lead to a more competitive and entertaining game. Eric Staal surprised everyone by taking his Hurricane teammate Cam Ward with the first pick and Nick countered with leading goal scorer Steven Stampkos. From there every team seemed to try to one up each other by taking the best players in the league for their teams. There was some drama when Daniel Sedin went to Staal and Lidstrom countered with his brother Henrik. A few rounds latter host James Duthie interviewed Marc Staal, Eric's brother asking him how he felt about not being selected first by his brother. Marc responded by saying his mother probably wasn't impressed with his brother for letting him drop through the draft. Eric selected his brother a couple rounds latter.

There was also some less friendly competition between players. Danny Briere and Claude Giroux of the Flyers were jabbing each other back and forth about who would be picked with Briere going to Lidstrom before Giroux was scooped up by Staal. But Lidstrom's assistant Patrick Kane was set on not picking his teammate Jonathan Toews but the veteran leader Lidstrom convinced him otherwise and selected Captain Serious. Of course someone had to go last and that honor went to Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel for team Lidstrom. However, as a reward for waiting that long, Phil was given a new car and $20,000 for the charity of his choice. Pretty nice prize for getting drafted last.

I think that the draft was an incredible success. It was exciting as a fan to see the players smiling and joking around at the All-Star game which hasn't been seen a lot in recent years. The NHL has decided that the players enjoyment is just as important as the marketing tool the event is. With fun events like the player draft, the players will play their best because they are having fun. Congratulations Bettman, Shanahan and the NHL.