Earlier today, freshly-minted NHL All-Star Scott Hartnell appeared on The Sports Bash on 97.3 ESPN South Jersey to discuss, among other things, where he’ll be selected in Thursday’s Fantasy Draft.
On the plus side for Hartnell: He has a backer in former Flyers teammate Joffrey Lupul, an assistant captain for one of the teams.
On the negative side: That team’s captain is Zdeno Chara.
Here’s the transcript of what Hartnell had to say (audio here.)
“I got Joffrey Lupul, he’s an assistant captain to Chara so we’ll see how much pull he has. I texted him and said ‘Where am I gonna go here? One, two overall?’ And he’s sitting there laughing at me, and he’s like ‘I think the Big Z doesn’t like you very much, playing you all the time in the playoffs.’
“It’ll be funny to see, I’m really fortunate to be there and to have that problem, I guess, sitting in the chairs waiting to be picked. I’m pretty jacked up.”
Earlier today, we highlighted a series of props from online sportsbook Bovada for the All-Star Fantasy Draft. Hartnell is a major longshot to be picked first overall (80/1, the highest odds available) but is one of the odds-on favorites to be taken last overall (6/1).
Perhaps online oddsmakers know how much Chara dislikes Hartnell.