The NHL announced that Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson and Bruins captain Zdeno Chara will serve as the game’s captains and be the guys to draft their sides at the All-Star Fantasy Draft on Thursday January 26.
Alfredsson is the virtual lifetime captain in Ottawa having played for the Senators since entering the league in 1995. Choosing Alfredsson to be one of the captains was as close to a no-brainer as you could get. Choosing the other captain was a bit trickier, but Chara getting the call makes things interesting.
Chara spent four seasons in Ottawa teaming up with Alfredsson and ultimately left as a free agent after the 2005-2006 season when the Sens chose to keep Wade Redden as a free agent rather than Chara. Whoops.
Chara gets the call as All-Star captain over other potential choices in Toronto’s Dion Phaneuf and Calgary’s Jarome Iginla. Having Phaneuf serve as a captain would’ve given the hometown fans distinct sides to root for but that might’ve been too punchy for the league to go for.
Team Alfredsson will be wearing the white and red All-Star uniforms while Team Chara will be rocking the blue and white sweaters for the All-Star Game on Sunday, January 29.