Captains announced for NHL All-Star Game

Alright. Everyone who thought this was going to be Team Crosby vs. Team Ovechkin raise your hand. Yup. Me too.

With the announcement of the NHL All-Star Game Rosters came speculation as to who would be selected as the team captains for the two sides. That all came to an end yesterday when the NHL announced that Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes will be the two men responsible for picking the All-Star teams as the NHL adopts this new “pick-up” format.

Lidstrom, 40, is a choice that brings no controversy. He is the captain of the Red Wings, one of the most respected and decorated players in the game, and one of the frontrunners to win the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman this season. Staal, 26, will also have little naysayers due to the game being held in his barn – the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. With the Hurricanes hosting the event, it should be a crowd pleasing moment when Staal comes up to the podium to pick his squad.

After a season-long marketing push for HBO’s 24/7 Penguins and Capitals and the Winter Classic itself, it seemed likely that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin would be shoe ins to represent the two teams in the game. Now, it seems that Crosby may be held out of the game entirely due to nagging symptoms of a concussion suffered during the New Years day game against Washington. For Ovechkin, he will merely be another member of the All-Star player pool waiting to hear his name called during the Fantasy Draft on January 28th.

The first pick will be determined by a coin toss with alternating picks after the first, just like your basic schoolyard game. Teams will be made up of twelve forwards, six defensemen, and three goaltenders that they may be chosen in any order. However, in the interest of fairness, excitement, and unpredictability, the captains and alternates will consist of two forwards and one defencemen. Also to avoid any attempt to stack the rosters, each teams three goaltenders must be chosen by the end of the 10th round, while the last defencemen must be chosen by round 15.