Anaheim Ducks Daily Links: Draft Night (All-Star Edition)

Good afternoon, Anaheim Ducks fans! It’s draft day, and Connor McDavid is…oh wait. It’s not that kind of draft tonight. Instead, the two All-Star teams will be drafting their respective teams. The teams are captained by Nick Foligno and Jonathan Toews. The assistant captains are Patrick Kane and Drew Doughty for Foligno, while Rick Nash and Ducks’ captain Ryan Getzlaf will be the assistants for Toews. There are still some roster spots that need to be filled: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Johnson will all miss the game, as of yesterday. John Gaudreau, Filip Forsberg, and Aaron Ekblad were named as the respective replacements.

This will be more akin to the typical Fantasy Hockey (or Fantasy Sports in general) draft room, hopefully with all the trash talk, brashness, and bravado. The difference is that instead of drafting sleepers or personal favorites, those six players and two teams will have 36 of the best players from the NHL to pick from (though the personal favorites may still come into play). A puck will be flipped to determine which team gets the first pick. Teams must have their three goalies selected by Round 10 and their six defensemen by Round 15, to avoid filling positions at the end of the draft by need. One trade is permitted.

Since Getzlaf is an assistant captain, no Ducks players will actually be selected in the draft itself. However, the event still holds intrigue (at least, if player drafts interest in any way, then it should). There are also many players across the league that, despite playing on rival clubs, have the respect of fans.

Despite the league’s general inactivity, events still happen. Here are some Ducks and NHL news to keep the day moving.