Bruins captain and defenseman Zdeno Chara and Senators captain and winger Daniel Alfredsson were both named 2012 NHL All-Star captains for their respective teams today.
The NHL All-Star game is January 29th and thanks to the NHL's brilliant new All-Star rules, each player will take turns selecting players for their respective teams on January 26th at the NHL All-Star player fantasy draft. The skills competition is on Saturday and the game is on Sunday.
Chara, a former Senator, played with Alfredsson for four seasons between 2001-02 and 2005-06. Each player is a key member of their respective teams, as Chara is eying another Stanley Cup run while Alfredsson is third in scoring on the surprising Senators, who are fifth in the Eastern Conference and only one point behind the Bruins.
Each player has a few teammates to choose from. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas and winger Tyler Seguin were both named All-Stars while the hometown Senators have defenseman Erik Karlsson, center Jason Spezza, winger Milan Michalek and rookie winger Colin Greening thanks to the usual ballot stuffing by Canadian fans that have nothing better to do.
I have to think that Chara will take Thomas first but it would be funny if either captain threw a curve ball and selected one of the other captain's teammates.
Chara was excited when upon hearing the news, as he talked about it with CSNNE.COM
"It's another honor on top of being selected as an All-Star. I found out this morning so I'm a little bit surprised. I'm going to at least try to see how it is to be in the position that some GMs are in or people that are making those decisions. In the group of players that are being selected I don't think you can make a wrong choice."
Last year's memorable moment was obviously Phil Kessel being picked last (complete with Alex Ovechkin taking pictures of him) and it was overall a successful (and my favorite) All-Star Weekend. Let's hope this year's draft provides some more fireworks.
UPDATE 1/20: Claude Julien and his assistants (Doug Houda, Doug Jarvis and Geoff Ward) will coach Chara's team in the All-Star game.
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