The NHL made a wise decision by putting All-Star weekend in the hands of their players.
RALEIGH N.C. - "We were in the bar."
That's probably not the 'up close and personal' the National Hockey League was banking on Friday night in Raleigh, but that's what they got from Alex Ovechkin - live on national television, no less - when he was asked why he and Washington teammate Mike Green missed their flight out of D.C. Friday morning.
It seems they were doing what every NHL player has done since they invented the All-Star break, way back in the Ace Bailey days. They began their break in the middle of a gruelling 82-game season in the airport bar.
And, well, you know. The flight announcements are hard to hear in there, and there was no P.R. lackey to tell them when to get on the plane. And the dog might have ate their boarding passes…
Then there was Patrick Kane, who admitted to waking up late for his flight Friday morning out of Chicago.
Captain Serious, up and at' em. Heading for O'Hare bright and early.
Kane - down, out, and (we're guessing) fuzzy-tongued.
Blackhawks teammate Jonathan Toews didn't say much about it afterwards, stating, "I could have thrown him under the bus pretty good. But I got orders I'm not supposed to be talking about that."
You have to give the league credit for walking out on a limb with this one. Stuck with an All-Star weekend that has been eclipsed by its own Winter Classic, and a game that simply can't fool a hockey fan into taking it seriously anymore, they left Friday night in the hands of their players.
For better or worse.
How much did Steven Stamkos pay Martin St. Louis to pick him? "Nothing," Stamkos said. "I just had to babysit his kids today on the airplane."
What did goalies - Carey Price from Montreal and Boston's Tim Thomas -talk about when Nashville defenceman Shea Weber was selected?
"Shea Weber?" Price said to Thomas. "Took a slapper one time from between the dots. Hit the glass before I moved my head. So happy it didn't hit my head."
For a first try, this was pretty much a winner. Team captain Eric Staal made his brother Marc squirm a bit, as he announced, "From the New York Rangers… Henrik Lundqvist."
Everyone had a good laugh, and Staal chose his little brother with the next pick.
The Sedin brothers, meanwhile, will oppose each other in an organized game of hockey for the very first time in their lives as they selected by opposing team in a pre-draft day deal they'd been suspecting for weeks.
"We had the feeling before," said Daniel. "I'm happy. I got picked first."
"I won the first race," laughed Henrik, who was born six minutes ahead of Daniel back on Sept. 26, 1980.
You can't write scripts like that one, which is exactly what the league had in mind when they handed this thing to Brendan Shanahan and said, "Come back with something that's interesting."
And as if it were somehow preordained, the poor Toronto Maple Leafs took one in the chops as Phil Kessel became the first ever "Last player drafted."
Why must it have been a Maple Leaf? Well, even Thunder Bay's Eric Staal had a read on the situation when he selected the second last player - Colorado's Paul Stastny - by stating, "Toronto isn't much of a hockey market. I'll take Paul Stastny."
He knew the consequences for Kessel would be steep. But he also figured a guy should have to earn the car and $20,000 donation that went with going last.
"When I was a kid, I would never have dreamed of being here," said Kessel. "Hopefully the fans in Toronto are happy to see me in the game. I'll play well in the game for them."
Kessel, who will hear the jokes about being dealt for two first-rounders, then going last here, was a good sport about it.
"Hey - he got a car," reminded Zdeno Chara.
It was all collegial, with a few yuks along the way. But in the end, will this make the game itself any better?
"I think so, for sure," Toews said. "Guys will try a little harder and bring a little more speed and a little more competitiveness."
We can only hope.
