The Hockey Stop

Friday night the NHL officially took a radically different direction with their All-Star Game format by holding a Fantasy Draft in Raleigh, North Carolina, the site of Sunday's matchup between Team Staal and Team Lidstrom.

Overall I think the league did an excellent job with the draft. But there were some awkward moments and at times it did tow the line between respectable television and reality series cheese.

So here is the good and bad.

The Good

-- Seeing the stars in street clothes without their uniforms and equipment on and not in the usual locker room setting provided a different and positive perspective of the players.

-- Having the enthusiastic Caniacs (Carolina Hurricanes fans) and other fans right up near the stage was a great idea. And the reactions were positive. There were even chants of "Ovie! Ovie!" right before the Caps star was chosen No. 3 in the draft.

-- Toronto Maple Leaf Phil Kessel's good-natured reaction to being chosen last by Team Lidstrom. This was the most nerve-racking and awkward part of the festivities and Kessel handled it like a true gentleman. Kudos to Kessel for being a good sport. And the NHL seemed to have anticipated the awkwardness and hurt feelings of being chosen last, because they donated $20,000 to charity on behalf of Kessel and handed him the keys to a brand new car. I'm sure all the other players wished they had been the last chosen after seeing what Kessel got!

-- Splitting up the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, was awesome to see. This of course is something that could never happen in the traditional East-West format because they both play on the Vancouver Canucks. It will be fun to see these two play against each other on Sunday.

The Bad

-- 'Canes Captain Eric Staal selecting his teammate, netminder Cam Ward, No. 1. I understand he wanted to please the hometown fans, but how can you not select Stamkos or Ovechkin first?

-- The TSN host interviewing the players on stage was just plain awkward. Next year cut the on-stage antics. The players didn't seem to like it and it came across really bad on TV. When Ovie was chosen after Stamkos the host said some ridiculous statement about Ovie's goal scoring being down this year and then asked Ovie to comment. It was really awkward.

-- Team Lidstrom and co-captain Patrick Kane picking his Blackhawks teammate Duncan Keith over Jonathan Toews. It was a real head scratcher. But what made it worse was Toews' reaction being interviewed and feigning being pissed off and then the camera showing a somewhat uneasy expression on Kane's face. Another awkward moment.

So the fantasy draft was a mixed bag. But it made for great entertainment. And that is really the point isn't it? Hopefully the game, which is being broadcast on Versus at 4 p.m. this Sunday, will be as exciting as the draft.

Credit: Grant Burke at http://www.grantburkeart.com

Perhaps the NHL should change its name to the Dynamic Hockey League. While Major League Baseball made the mistake of placing too much weight on its All-Star Game by having it decide home field advantage in the playoffs, NHL Vice President of Hockey and Business Development Brendan Shanahan decided this year to shun any seriousness and instead turn the game on its head by transforming Raleigh, North Carolina's RBC Center into a pond hockey pickup game on the last weekend of January, 2011.

The Western vs. Eastern Conference format has been scrapped for a player draft in which the two captains will choose their teammates. Fans will still get to vote to send their favorite players to the game via an online ballot. Click here to vote for your favorite players. The voting started on Nov. 15 and goes until Jan. 3.

But this is where it gets interesting. Two captains will be chosen by the players. It will be fascinating to see who they select. Will it be Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin? Or maybe a surprise pick such as Zdeno Chara or Jonathan Toews or Joe Thornton?

And then comes the real fun. On the Friday before the game, a fantasy draft will take place with all 54 NHL players during which the captains will select the remainder of the team. Will they load up on defense or offense or try to find a combination of both? Will they play favorites by choosing their teammates or not choose their teammates because they don't want to appear to be playing favorites? Will they choose a young team or a veteran team or a combination of youth and experience?

Already this new format is creating buzz around hockey circles. It instantly creates excitement for an event that frankly was becoming a bit stale, what with the annual Winter Classic the past few years becoming the marquee event on the NHL schedule after the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kudos to the NHL for not being afraid of change when it makes sense. And this change, as crazy as it sounds, make a whole lot of sense.

Not since Wayne Gretzky moved from Edmonton to Los Angeles has there been so many Oiler jerseys seen in Southern California. With the first pick in this year's NHL Entry Draft at Staples Center, Edmonton picked forward Taylor Hall and gave hope to fans of the worst team in the league.

"I’ve been an Oiler fan all my life and this is the first time in franchise history they’ve had a first-round pick and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to watch them pick first," said Edmonton native John Plaisier, who was drinking beers with his friends at the fan festival at L.A. Live before the draft.

The fan fest included a chance to try on the hockey gear and jersey of their favorite player, a puck shooting area, a beer garden, the opportunity to play the latest version of 2K Sports' popular NHL videogame franchise and a street hockey game for the tykes in the crowd. It was great entertainment befitting the entertainment capital of the world.

The doors to the Staples Center opened at 2 p.m. -- a full two hours before the draft began -- and there were already long lines to enter the arena -- a testament to how popular ice hockey is in Southern California.

For two days at least, the Lakers took a backseat to the Kings as was evident by the Kings jersey on the statue of Magic Johnson in front of the arena. The Oscar De La Hoya statue and of course the Wayne Gretzky statue were also wearing Kings jerseys.

Once ticket-holders entered the arena they were treated to an opportunity to take their picture with the Stanley Cup and every individual trophy. Some fans waited in line for up to an hour to snap a picture with the holy grail of hockey.

While as expected there were many Kings and Ducks fans filling the stands, every other team was represented as well. There were Pens fans with Crosby jerseys, Caps fans with Ovechkin jerseys, Bruins fans, Flyers fans, Maple Leaf fans, Avalanche fans. You name the team and fans were represented at the draft. It was a shining example of how geographically diverse Southern California is that every fan-base in the U.S. and Canada was represented.

And while the boos from Kings fans drowned out Gary Bettman when he announced it was Anaheim's turn to draft, Bettman was booed himself when he was introduced. The commish seems to be booed in every NHL arena in America. The National Hockey League is going through a golden era right now and is the most exciting it has ever been so why Bettman gets the wrath of the fans all the time is a mystery. When Sidney Crosby -- who was sitting at the Pens table on the war room floor -- was shown on the video screen he was booed almost as loudly as the Ducks and Bettman.

Seeing all the Ducks and Kings fans was a reminder of how this rivalry is so good for the game and Southern California. And seeing so many California-bred prospects drafted shows how much youth hockey has grown in SoCal. It was especially rewarding to see Long Beach native and fourth-ranked forward prospect Emerson Etem chosen by Anaheim in the first round with the 29th overall pick.

Other Cali players drafted included Beau Bennett, Jason Zucker and Taylor Aronson.

And while Canadian prospects dominated the top of the draft, the Americans set a record with 11 first-rounders and a total of 59 players overall.

Chris Robinson drove up from Laguna Niguel to see who the Ducks drafted and was impressed with L.A.'s hosting job.

"I think it’s perfect," Robinson said. "It’s good exposure for the league and there’s a lot more hockey fans in L.A. than you’d think."

More pictures from Friday's first-round festivities at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles:

The National Hockey League has crowned the Kings as host team for the 2010 entry draft -- the first time in the event's 46-year history that it will be held in the state of California.

The draft will take place from June 25-26 at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

And as an over eight-year resident of the Golden State, I say it is about time the league acknowledged its importance to the future of professional hockey.

There is a popular perception of California as some sort of hockey hinterland with all the sunshine and palm trees being more conducive to surfing than skating. And there is a trivializing of California hockey fans as too casual in some quarters of the Northeast.

That is simply unfair and the NHL knows it. That is why they chose L.A. for the draft.

Here are five reasons why -- besides the obvious influence Wayne Gretzky had on developing hockey here -- that California is the hottest spot for the coldest sport:

• The rise of the Los Angeles Kings is one of the best stories of the season so far. This young, exciting team with loads of talent, such as scoring leader Anze Kopitar, is second in the Pacific Division and is poised to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002. And goalie Jonathan Quick put in one of his best performances of the season last night by making 26 saves in a 2-1 win at home over the Flames.

• The rise of the area around the Staples Center nicely coincides with the resurgent Kings. The L.A. Live complex includes ESPN's new West Coast studios, the Nokia Theater, restaurants, nightclubs, a movie theater, a Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriot hotel opening in February and other entertainment options that are turning the area into a West Coast Times Square.

• The Anaheim Ducks, despite their mediocre play this season, brought the first Stanley Cup to the Golden State in 2007 and turned a team based on a Disney movie into one of the most respected franchises in the NHL.

• The San Jose Sharks are one of the elite teams in the league and, despite a disappointing first-round playoff exit last year, won the President's Trophy as the the team with the best regular-season record. And this year they are on pace to win it again (they will have some competition from the Caps though -- after last night's victory over the Lightning the Capitals overtook San Jose for the overall points lead with 44, one point ahead of the Sharks).

• Hockey at the grassroots level continues to grow in California. According to NHL.com, since 2001 only five states have had more players in the NHL entry draft than California.