After an entertaining night at Casino Lac Lemay the stage is now set for All Star Weekend.
Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara made their selections last night in front of an energetic crowd in the second annual All Star Fantasy Draft. Now that we know who is on what team, it's pretty obvious who the home town favourites will be this weekend.
There were few surprises last night as each Captain stuck with the predicted script. After taking Karlsson with his first pick, Alfie was able to snap up the other two Sens players as well as a number of his fellow Swedes.
Team Alfredsson even managed to snag former-Senator Brian Elliott as one of the goalies.
Meanwhile, Big Z and his assistant Joffrey Lupul (booo! sorry Joffrey) were able to put together a team that includes all the Leafs and Bruins in the game and not surprisingly, no Vancouver Canucks. Everything went according to plan for both Captain with one exception- Colin Greening ended up with the bad guy.
The fans in attendance and watching at home were hoping Alfie could swing a last minute deal but it never materialized.
All in all, a fun night for the fans and for the players. Former Ottawa 67 Logan Couture had the distinction of being the last player picked but handled it with class and dignity. I'm sure the new car made it a little easier.
Here is how the teams stack up heading into the weekend…
Team Chara
Joffrey Lupul, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Corey Perry, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, Jarome Iginla, Marian Gaborik, Jordan Eberle, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn
Zdeno Chara, Kimmo Timonen, Ryan Suter, Brian Campbell, Dion Phaneuf, Dennis Wideman
Tim Thomas, Carey Price, Jimmy Howard
Team Alfredsson
Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos, Daniel Sedin, Milan Michalek, Henrik Sedin, James Neal, John Tavares, Scott Hartnell, Jason Pominville, Logan Couture
Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Shea Weber, Dan Girardi, Keith Yandle, Alex Edler
Henrik Lundqvist, Jonathan Quick, Brian Elliott
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- I'm sure a number of readers will be making their way down to the fan fair at some point today. Here is some information on what you can expect, including a list of which players will be there throughout the day. Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and the legendary Gordie Howe are among the players signing autographs!
- And for those of you that had planned to attend the Energizer Skate, it has now been moved to the Rink of Dreams. Click here for more information!
- Mentioned this on Twitter but for those of you attending tomorrow's skills competition or the game on Sunday, Local Heroes on Clyde will be running a shuttle bus to the event. The cost is $5 and if you eat there before the bus departs, you get 10% of your meal. Great way to get to and from the event. Any questions just call (613) 224-3873 for details.
Look forward to hearing everyone's stories from this weekend in the comment section below!
