Thursday night at 8 PM ET, the NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft takes place with team captains D Zdeno Chara and RW Daniel Alfredsson -- of the blue and red teams respectively -- selecting from a pool of 100 All-Stars for the 2012 NHL All-Star Games.
This is the second year the league will conduct its NHL player draft, and with the new format, the fans vote in six players to join the pool of All-Stars who are otherwise selected by the league. The All-Stars then vote among themselves to elect two captains, who then pick the rosters for the All-Star Game and Skills Competition in a fantasy draft.
In the 2011 NHL All-Star game, C Paul Stastny and C Matt Duchene represented the Colorado Avalanche, joining opposite teams in the later rounds of the draft.
Rookie LW Gabriel Landeskog -- the lone Avalanche representative in 2012, will participate in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, following D Kevin Shattenkirk who had the same honor in 2011. Landesko and his fellow rookies will have their own, separate draft following the veteran draft. Each of the Skill Competition events has at least one rookie participant.
The schedule for the 2012 All-Star festivities:
- Thursday, Jan. 26: NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft -- 8 PM ET, NBC Sports Network
- Saturday, Jan. 28: All-Star Skills Competition -- 7 PM ET, NBC Sports Network
- Sunday, Jan. 29: NHL All-Star Game -- 4 PM ET, NBC Sports Network
Stay tuned to SB Nation Denver for more information, and for in-depth analysis on the Colorado Avalanche be sure to visit Mile High Hockey. Visit SB Nation NHL for more news and notes around the league.