For the first time in nine years the NHL All-Star Player Draft returns.
This is the fourth time the league has used this format to pick its teams, first trying it in 2011, again in 2012 and then 2015 after two seasons were interrupted by a work stoppage and Olympic participation.
This year, there are four teams that need to be selected. One is captained by Auston Matthews, with Morgan Rielly as his assistant and Justin Bieber as the celebrity rep. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will come together with actor Will Arnett; Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar will work with singer/songwriter Tate McRae; and the injured Jack Hughes and his brother Quinn will be joined by Elias Pettersson and singer Michael Bublé.
Each team will select nine players from the remaining pool of 36 players.
These teams will compete in Saturday’s All-Star Game against one another, but this draft has no impact on Friday’s skills competition, which itself has a new format this season. The participants, and the skills they’ll compete in, were announced Wednesday night. Check in at Sportsnet.ca Friday morning for more details about the skills competition.
Until then, without further ado, here is our live blog to follow along with the player draft as it unfolds…
