The NHL All-Star Draft made its return tonight as four sets of team captains chose their squads for Saturday's three-on-three clashes. There were some fun moments from the players, and the star-studded All-Star Game rosters have been set.
For the first time since 2015, the NHL used a draft to determine its All-Star rosters. Back then there were just two teams, and the All-Star Game itself was the standard format consisting of three 20-minute periods. This was the first time the league implemented the draft since moving toward the three-on-three tournament format.
On Thursday night, four sets of team co-captains were accompanied by celebrity captains as they built rosters consisting of the best hockey players in the world. Team Matthews represented the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs with Auston Matthews as captain, Morgan Reilly as the co-captain and popstar Justin Bieber as the celebrity captain.
Captain Connor McDavid, co-captain Leon Draisaitl and actor Will Arnett made up Team McDavid.
Colorado Avalanche stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar co-captained Team MacKinnon, and they got help from Canadian singer Tate McRae.
The Hughes brothers, Quinn and Jack, combined forces with British Columbia native Michael Buble to form Team Hughes. With Jack Hughes out of the game due to injury, Vancouver Canucks star Elias Peterrsson took his spot on the roster alongside teammate Quinn Hughes. Jesper Bratt, a teammate of Jack Hughes' in New Jersey, took Pettersson's spot in the player pool.
To prevent any player being the last one pick, the final four All-Stars randomly drew cards to determine which teams they would join.
Team Hughes had the honor of winning the All-Star draft lottery, and they got to make the first pick. Team Matthews got the second pick, Team MacKinnon had the third pick and Team McDavid rounded out the draft order.
The theme of the night was captains drafting their teammates. Buble, a massive Canucks fan, made sure that his Team Hughes squad was loaded up with five players from his favorite team. The only Canuck not on Team Hughes was the newest one, Elias Lindholm, who was traded from the Calgary Flames to Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Team Matthews immediately went after the other two Maple Leafs in the player pool, selecting William Nylander and Mitch Marner with their top two picks. Team MacKinnon made sure to bring in goaltender Alexandar Georgiev to complete a trio of Avalanche All-Stars on that quad, and McDavid got Sergei Bobrovsky right after selecting his Florida Panthers teammate, Sam Reinhart.
The full draft results are below.
2024 NHL All-Star Draft
Team Hughes
1.1. Nikita Kucherov | F | Tampa Bay Lightning
2.4. Thatcher Demko | G | Vancouver Canucks
3.1. Kyle Connor | F | Winnipeg Jets
4.4. Brady Tkachuk | F | Ottawa Senators
5.1 Jesper Bratt | F | New Jersey Devils
6.4. Cam Talbot | G | Los Angeles Kings
7.1. Brock Boeser | F | Vancouver Canucks
8.4. J.T. Miller | F | Vancouver Canucks
9.1. Frank Vatrano | F | Anaheim Ducks
Team Matthews
1.2. William Nylander | F | Toronto Maple Leafs
2.3. Mitch Marner | F | Toronto Maple Leafs
3.2. Jake Oettinger | G | Dallas Stars
4.3. Clayton Keller | F | Arizona Coyotes
5.2. Mathew Barzal | F | New York Islanders
6.3. Igor Shesterkin | G | New York Rangers
7.2. Filip Forsberg | F | Nashville Predators
8.3. Alex DeBrincat | F | Detroit Red Wings
9.2. Vincent Trocheck | F | New York Rangers
Team MacKinnon
1.3. Sidney Crosby | F | Pittsburgh Penguins
2.2. Alexandar Georgiev | G | Colorado Avalanche
3.3. Kirill Kaprizov | F | Minnesota Wild
4.2. Sebastian Aho | F | Carolina Hurricanes
5.3. Tom Wilson | F | Washington Capitals
6.2. Jeremy Swayman | G | Boston Bruins
7.3. Travis Konecny | F | Philadelphia Flyers
8.2. Elias Lindholm | F | Vancouver Canucks
9.3. Oliver Bjorkstrand | F | Seattle Kraken
Team McDavid
1.4. Connor Hellebuyck | G | Winnipeg Jets
2.1. David Pastrnak | F | Boston Bruins
3.4. Rasmus Dahlin | D | Buffalo Sabres
4.1. Robert Thomas | F | St. Louis Blues
5.4. Sam Reinhart | F | Florida Panthers
6.1. Sergei Bobrovsky | G | Florida Panthers
7.4. Boone Jenner | F | Columbus Blue Jackets
8.1. Nick Suzuki | F | Montreal Canadiens
9.4. Tomas Hertl | F | San Jose Sharks
