These past few months have been busy. First LeBron James was having some confidence issues so I had to help him out. I told him to let his feelings out on Twitter more, you know, some internet therapy. Then Sidney Crosby was in a slump and needed some tips to get his points up, so I told him to stop slacking off and work on his game more. Then Brett Favre and I had a heart-to-heart about whether he should retire again. My short answer was: yes; long answer: For God sakes, yes.
Now that all of that drama is out of the way, it's time to talk NHL All-Star! I'm pumped. Double fist-pump pumped.
On January 28-30 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the NHL will be going old skewl. Players will get to choose their own teams which means (insert dramatic pause)... someone will get picked last. I heard a rumour that the lucky player will get a novelty t-shirt (see below), but I have absolutely nothing to back up that rumour I just made up.
The 42-man roster was officially announced yesterday which includes 24 Forwards, 12 Defensemen and 6 Goalies. There are also 12 Rookies chosen who will only be participating in a skills challenge, so they are not included in the main roster. Here's who we've got, by team, and in a sweet chart (thank you grade 11 computer class):
I'll give you a minute to look it over..
The teams that don't have a player representing them on the 42-man roster are being represented by their Rookies, so kudos to those kids. They're allllllll right.
"Tell us how it works, Jazz." Alright. Let's break it down:
- There will be two teams. Boom. Easy.
- Each team will have one captain and two alternate captains, so three leaders, and perhaps a hockey coup where one alternate captain schemes to take over the top position. But probably not. The leaders will be chosen by the players, so we'll see who wins the popularity contest. If you bribed me with a steak dinner you'd get my vote.
- Then there will be an 18 round draft where the trio will collaborate to choose a player -- yep, just like gym class.
- The rules of the draft are: all goalies must be chosen by the 10th round, all defensemen must be chosen by the 15th round. So, by using simple logic we come to the conclusion that the last man standing will be a forward.
So who will the last one be? Will it be David Backes? I don't know. But I have a 1/24 chance of being right so that's who I choose. And if my rumour is true - which it isn't - he'll be wearing this lovely number (tattoos optional):
