On Thursday night, Daniel Alfredsson’s GM skills were called into question during the All-Star Fantasy Draft.
On Saturday night, Alfie’s picks made a lot of sense.
Team Alfredsson put forth a commanding performance at the 2012 All-Star Skills competition, beating Team Chara by a 21-12 score.
See: Best of the Night -- NHL All-Stars skills competition
Alfredsson built his team largely on Senators teammates and fellow Swedes, which included his first-round selection, Erik Karlsson. That was in stark contrast to Chara, who loaded up early in the draft -- Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa were among his first four picks -- and seemed to take the GM gig quite seriously. (“When his playing days are over, he may want to get into NHL management, so this is good training for him,” said his agent, Matt Keator.)
As for the competition itself:
-- Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin won the fastest skater over Ottawa’s Colin Greening.
-- Dallas’ Jamie Benn captured most accurate shooter over Matt Read.
-- Chara beat Nashville’s Shea Weber in the hardest shot contest.
-- Patrick “Superman” Kane received the most fan votes to win the breakaway challenge.
-- Team Alfredsson beat Team Chara in the skills challenge relay.
-- And, in an impressive performance, Tampa Bay Lightning sniper Steve Stamkos went three-for-three to win the elimination shootout:
Stamkos also impressed during the skills challenge replay, hammering one-timers into the net from acute angles.
“You kind of incorporate everything into that with one-timers, passing, accuracy and stick-handling and mobility,” Stamkos told NHL.com. “It’s kind of all the aspects that you need to be a successful hockey player in the NHL.
“It gives the fans something to look forward to and for the guys it allows everyone to get involved.”