GATINEAU, Que. - The NHL All-Star Fantasy draft is like picking teams on the playground, except the last one chosen gets a car to soothe his bruised ego.
In a throwback to the type of hockey played on ponds, playgrounds and backyard rinks across the country, teams were chosen by two captains.
One by one every name was called until everyone was spoken for until there was just one man left standing.
This year it was Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks. But unlike the playground, Logan got picked last in front of a national audience and a swarm of media.
“You definitely can’t take that personally,” he said. “It’s something I knew could be a possibility.
To soothe the public experience of a near universal occurrence, the NHL gave Couture a Honda Crosstour.
After years of dividing the teams by east and west, 2012 was just the second year that teams were picked in a draft style.
Last year it was Toronto Maple Leafs’ Phil Kessel who got the car. He fared better in 2012 being picked in the eighth round.
His advice to Logan: “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.”
Couture was picked up by All-Star and Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson: the last member of a team chosen largely along near universal playground logic.
Friends first
Alfredsson followed the unspoken law that friends must be taken care of first.
He and assistant captain Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, used their first two picks to secure Sens players Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza.
Speaking to media before the game, Alfredsson said he was looking to collect as many fellow Sens and Swedes as he could.
Karlsson had this pre-draft message for his captain in the case he wasn’t chosen as part of Team Alfie: “I would be pissed.”
Alfredsson made Senator, Milan Michalek, sweat, waiting to pick up until round 12.
Alfredsson’s opponent, captain Zdeno Chara used his first choice to pick up Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings.
“I really admire the way he plays the game,” Chara told reporters after the game. “It was my individual goal to get him first.”
Scorn foes
Chara and assistant captain Joffrey Lupul of the Toronto Maple Leafs seemed to follow another basic logic long adhered to on ponds and playgrounds: keep your rivals distant, no matter how good they may be.
Chara, a Boston Bruin, declined to pick any members of the rival Canucks. Similarly, Lupul kept his Leafs teammates away from their Ontario foes, the Ottawa Senators.
The rivalry was fueled by riled up fans who shouted “Leafs suck” every time Lupul took to the microphone.
The division of rivals made it easy for Alfredsson to pick up fellow Swedes Daniel and Hendrik Sedin of the Canucks. Chara, who hails from Slovakia, picked up as many of his countrymen as possible.
Picking friends and scorning foes seemed to leave both captains satisfied.
“I don’t know if we subconsciously thought the same sort of thing. It kind of played itself perfect,” said Alfredsson of the strategy.
Chara said it natural to want your team to be together, especially if they represent the home team.
“When you can have the home players on the same team it makes it very special to them,” he said.
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