Logan Couture is your Mr. Irrelevant in the 2012 NHL All-Star Draft. It came down to the second-year San Jose Shark and his division rival, Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars at the end. Team Chara opted to go with Benn, leaving Couture on stage all alone for the 38th and final pick.
2012 NHL All-Star Draft: Logan Couture Selected With Final Pick
Oh, but he did win a pretty ugly car as a consolation prize: a 2013 Honda Crosstour.
Phil Kessel, last year's Mr. Irrelevant, was taken No. 15 overall by Team Chara. Kessel was taken by teammate Joffrey Lupul, and the other Toronto Maple Leaf, Dion Phaneuf, joined them with the No. 25 overall pick. It's safe to say that the hometown Ottawa crowd will be rooting against them just as hard as they're rooting for Team Alfredsson this weekend.
Team Alfredsson is very Ottawa heavy. Aside from rookie Colin Greening, who was placed on Team Chara, all the Senators at the All-Star Game will wear the home colors of red and white. Alfredsson and his assistant captain, Henrik Lundqvist, selected Erik Karlsson with the No. 2 overall pick, Jason Spezza with the No. 4 pick and Milan Michalek with the No. 24 pick. Former Sens goalie Brian Elliott also joined Team Alfredsson with the No. 14 pick.
The final goaltender taken in the draft, at No. 19 in the order by default, was Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings. He'll play for Team Chara. The final defenseman taken, also by default thanks to the rules, was Alex Edler of the Vancouver Canucks.
Edler was on the board with another defenseman, Dennis Wideman of the Washington Capitals, as the draft entered the 15th round. All defensemen had to be gone by then, so it was just a matter of which would go last. It almost seemed like a rule that Chara, a Boston Bruin, would refuse to take a Canuck, and perhaps that's why he opted for Wideman over Edler. Both Sedin twins went to Team Alfredsson as well, but rookie Cody Hodgson will play for the blue and silver of Team Chara.
The rookies were split into two groups prior to the event. During a commercial break in the program, Sean Couturier of the Philadelphia Flyers and Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche flipped a puck to determine which group would be assigned to which team. Couturier won the flip and opted to go with Team Alfredsson. They're the home team, after all.
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