Once again, Marty St. Louis will go undrafted.
The Lightning All-Star forward was named Friday as an alternate captain for next weekend's All-Star game in Raleigh, N.C., serving alongside captain Nicklas Lidstrom. Chicago's Patrick Kane will serve as the other alternate for Team Lidstrom. The other team will be captained by Carolina's Eric Staal along with alternates Mike Green (Washington) and Ryan Kesler (Vancouver).
But because St. Louis, who went undrafted out of college before going on to be league MVP in 2004, will serve as an alternate captain he will not be included in the fantasy style draft in which the teams will be divided up for this year's format. Each squad will select from a pool of 36 players and 12 rookies to form their teams for the skills competition and All-Star game.
"I was kind of looking forward to putting on a hat and jersey and taking a picture," St. Louis joked of the normal routine for players selected at the NHL entry draft each summer.
This year's All-Star game, which will also feature league-leading goal scorer Steven Stamkos, will be held Jan. 30 at RBC Center with the skills competition Jan. 29. The fantasy draft will be held at 8 p.m. Friday and televised on Versus.
This will be St. Louis' sixth consecutive appearance in the All-Star game, but first while wearing a leadership letter on his jersey. The only other Lightning player to wear a letter in the All-Star game is Vinny Lecavalier, who was captain of the Eastern Conference during the 2008 game in Atlanta.
"It's an honor, obviously, being next to Lidstrom. It will be quite something that I will remember when I step away from the game," said St. Louis, who is the only Lighting player to ever score a goal in the All-Star game, which he did in 2007 at Dallas. "He's the ultimate pro, he's done everything he can do, and now to be next to him, it's an honor."
And if Team Lidstrom ends up with the first pick in the fantasy draft, will St. Louis lobby hard to choose his teammate Stamkos.
"I'm gonna push, that's for sure," he said. "But I think it's just going to be a fun experience, I don't think it's going to be too serious."
