NHL All-Star Draft 2012: Pavel Datsyuk Selected First Overall; Erik Karlsson Picked 2nd By Team Alfredsson

Read More: Daniel Alfredsson (RW - OTT), Jason Spezza (C - OTT), Milan Michalek (LW - OTT), Nicklas Lidstrom (D - DET), Pavel Datsyuk (C - DET), Erik Karlsson (D - OTT)

Daniel Alfredsson passed off the honor of making the first selection in the 2012 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft, and with that pick, Team Zdeno Chara selected Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings.

Chara explained the pick to TSN, saying that if Nicklas Lidstrom were there instead he would have been the first pick, but that he knows the way Datsyuk plays the game and that he's extremely deserving of the first pick. Nobody in the very pro-Ottawa crowd minded the pick, because it allowed Alfredsson to pick his teammate and countryman.

Erik Karlsson, the NHL's leading point scorer among defensemen, admitted that he lobbied Alfredsson's kids for the first pick, because they clearly have the most pull in that household. It worked, and

Does that bother Jason Spezza or Milan Michalek? Alfredsson said no, but Karlsson said "Spezza's pissed back there. His black eye is getting even blacker."

Spezza was picked fourth overall with Team Alfredsson's second pick.