There were a total of 19 rounds in the 2012 NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft on Thursday evening. Captain Zdeno Chara (Navy) won the ‘puck toss’ for the first pick. All three Penguins players were taken by the 15th round and drafted as follows:
ROUND 3 – Evgeni Malkin (Team Chara)
ROUND 5 – Kris Letang (Team Alfredsson – White / Red)
ROUND 14 – James Neal (Team Alfredsson)
For a complete roster list by round (including rookie All-Stars), CLICK HERE.
Yesterday, the lineups for tonight’s skills competition were finalized and here’s what events each All-Star captains chose for Malkin, Letang, and Neal to compete in this evening:
ELIMINATION SHOOTOUT:
Malkin, Letang, and Neal
SKILLS CHALLENGE RELAY:
Malkin (stick handling)
Letang (fastest skater and one-timer)
Neal (accuracy shooter)
According to PittsburghPenguins.com, Malkin is looking forward to displaying his stick handling skills, but according to Neal, he believes he was disappointed he didn’t get picked to compete in the category he was chosen for, accuracy:
“I like to do the stickhandling. I hope I don’t have bad hands,” he joked. “It’s tough to do the shootouts because I’m not a great shooter. But we’ll see (Saturday) when I do it. I’ll try to score and do my best. I’ll try to make the fans love it.”
“I think he was mad that he wasn’t in it again,” Neal joked of Malkin. “I’ll take it over for him.”
For the complete lineup of tonight’s skills competition, CLICK HERE. The competition airs tonight at 7:00 pm (est) on CBC and RDS in Canada and NBC Sports Network in the US.
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