The most interesting wrinkles included seeing the Sedin twins end up on opposing teams for the first time. Other teammates who will also face off include the two Bruins representatives, as Zdeno Chara was the second defenseman taken in the fourth round by Staal and Tim Thomas was the second goalie off the board, going to Lidstrom in Round 5.
Staal otherwise played it safe, picking Carolina teammates Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner and, after making him sweat a bit, his brother Marc Staal, while neither team seemed to have much interest in taking former Bruin Phil Kessel, who went to Lidstrom's squad with the last pick.
Which captain did the better job of putting together a team will be revealed after the squads square off on Sunday.
9:15 p.m.: Kessel finally finds someone who wants him, and he tries to ignore host James Duthie's request for an interview.
"I'm just happy to be here," Kessel said after finally walking back down the stairs for the interview. "It's a great honor.
"It was nerve-wracking," added Kessel of waiting to be the final pick.
9:08 p.m.: Two rounds left, and Phil Kessel can't get any love even in an All-Star competition. The former Bruin should be perfect for a game with no hitting and no backchecking, but he's certainly not in high demand by his NHL peers.
With the rookies already choosing their teams, technically Seguin went in the draft before Kessel.
9:07 p.m.: Back to the main draft, with Staal picking New Jersey's Patrik Elias in Round 16.
Lidstrom counters with Matt Duchene, who broke the news on twitter that the final pick will get a car, but he won't have a shot at that.
9:05 p.m.: Hall wins the puck flip and chooses to have his group join Team Lidstrom. Seguin and Co. will be with team Staal.
9:02 p.m.: The rookies for the skills competition have been divided into two squads of six, with one group joining each of the All-Star teams.
Bruins rookie Tyler Seguin is joined by Logan Couture, P.K. Subban, Michael Grabner, Jamie McBain and Tyler Ennis.
The other group consists of Taylor Hall, Cam Fowler, Derek Stepan, Kevin Shattenkirk, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Evgeny Dadonov.
8:55 p.m.: And then there were six. Nothing but forwards left as Staal takes Corey Perry and Lidstrom adds Anze Kopitar in Round 15.
The half dozen batting not to be Mr. Irrelevant are old friend Phil Kessel, Matt Duchene, Loui Eriksson, Patrik Elias, Paul Stastny and David Backes.
8:52 pm.: All the defensemen are now off the board. Lidstrom struck first by taking Minnesota's Brett Burns in Round 13 and Staal going with Ottawa's Erik Karlsson in Round 14.
Staal also took Claude Giroux in the 13th round and Lidstrom stayed with the Wild for Martin Havlat.
8:50 p.m.: Both teams go defense in Round 12 with Pittsburgh's Kris Letang joining Team Staal and Bay State native Keith Yandle going to Lidstrom.
8:46 p.m.: There won't be any divided loyalties for the hometown fans in Carolina, as Staal adds Hurricanes teammate Jeff Skinner to start off Round 11. Skinner is the youngest All-Star and first 18-year-old to play in the game since Steve Yzerman.
Lidstrom allows St. Louis to announce their selection, Dallas forward Brad Richards, who won a Cup with St. Louis in Tampa Bay back in 2004.
8:38 p.m.: Not much mystery to round out the 10th round, with Staal adding Montreal's Carey Price to his netminding corps and Lidstrom choosing the only Western Conference goalie available in Anaheim's Jonas Hiller.
The goalies are all accounted for now. Each team has four defensemen, so two of the next five picks for each team will be blueliners.
8:37 p.m.: Staal adds a defenseman with Dan Boyle and Lidstrom chooses Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in Round 9.
Both teams need to take their final goalies in Round 10.
8:34 p.m.: It's an all-Chicago Round 8, with Staal taking Patrick Sharp and Lidstrom reuniting assistant captain Kane with Jonathan Toews.
8:30 p.m.: Eric felt his brother has waited long enough, and opens the seventh round by selecting his brother Marc.
Lidstrom then grabs Atlanta defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. Lidstrom now has four of six defensemen picked, while Staal has just three.
8:28 p.m.: Despite some hard lobbying from his brother Marc, Staal goes with a different Ranger, countering the Thomas selection by taking goalie Hendrik Lundqvist.
Lidstrom responds by taking Danny Briere, the first replacement player pick. Briere was added when Jarome Iginla asked out for family reasons.
8:24 p.m.: Good to see Thomas on hand for the draft. Before Wednesday's game he said he was expecting to watch the draft from his hotel room, and was wondering if it would even have Versus.
He wasn't as worried about waiting around to be picked.
"I was drafted in the 11th round by the Quebec Nordiques originally, so I knew I was going higher than that," Thomas said on the podium.
8:17 p.m.: Rick Nash goes to Team Staal and Lidstrom counters with Marty St. Louis selecting former Vermont teammate Tim Thomas.
No worries for the Bruins sitting around as both Chara and Thomas are off the board. They'll be facing each other though, as they land on opposite sides. When asked what would happen if he and Chara were opposite teams when named an All-Star earlier this month, Thomas replied simply, "I win, he loses."
8:14 p.m.: And the first Bruin is off the board, with Zdeno Chara picked by Eastern Conference rival Staal in the fourth round.
Lidstrom counters with a big defenseman of their own, taking Nashville's Shea Weber.
8:11 p.m.: And it looks like everyone will get to pick a teammate, as Pat Kane announces fellow Blackhawk Duncan Keith will join Team Lidstrom.
8:10 p.m.: Mike Green gets to announce the selection of Washington teammate Alex Ovechkin for Team Staal. No big surprises so far.
8:08 p.m.: Lidstrom counters with Tampa Bay star forward Steven Stamkos. That keeps him together with Lightning teammate Martin St. Louis, who is an assistant captain on Team Lidstrom.
8:06 p.m.: Staal starts it off by selecting his Carolina teammate, goalie Cam Ward. Interesting choice with a netminder going first for such an offensive showcase.
8:05 p.m.: The "puck flip" has been done, with Lidstrom calling "All-Star" and the puck coming up "NHL."
Staal will have the first pick.
8 p.m.: The wait is nearly over, as Staal and Lidstrom will soon be divvying some of the best hockey talent in the world.
Who will be the first pick? We're about to find out.
7 p.m.: Being "Mr. Irrelevant" might not be so bad after all.
According to a tweet by Colorado's Matt Duchene, the last pick in the fantasy draft will get a nice consolation prize in the form of a new car.
"Just found out last pick gets a car… I've swallowed my pride and am now welcoming the last pick haha," Duchene tweeted Friday afternoon, though there hasn't been official confirmation of that prize.
One thing is certain, it won't be a Bruin who goes last. The rules for the draft state that each team must pick all three of its goaltenders by the end of Round 10 and all six of its defensemen by the end of Round 15. That means Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara will be off the board long before Mr. Irrelevant is crowned.
The draft will feature 18 rounds total. Each team will have 18 skaters (12 forwards, 6 defensemen) and three goalies, with one defenseman and two forwards already set with the captains and assistant captains.
6:45 p.m.: The first draft of players for the All-Star Game will begin in just over an hour, but the first selections have already been made.
The coaching staffs for the teams were assigned this afternoon, with head coach Joel Quenneville and assistant Mike Haviland of the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks drawing Team Staal and Philadelphia's Peter Laviolette and Vancouver's Alain Vigneault getting Team Lidstrom.
That means no reunion between Laviolette and Eric Staal, who was one of the stars of the Hurricanes' run to the Cup when Laviolette was behind the Carolina bench in 2006. Laviolette and Vigneault earned the right to co-coach one squad by virtue of their clubs having the best records in each conference.
Considering that the league is letting the captains pick the teams, why are there coaches involved at all? If the NHL really wants to turn this into the ultimate game of shinny, shouldn't the players be allowed to coach themselves?
8 a.m.: The first "fantasy draft" in All-Star history will take place Friday night in Raleigh, as captains Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal will choose the teams for the 58th NHL All-Star Game.
Lidstrom and Staal were chosen as captains by their All-Star peers and now will be tasked with the duty of picking the sides for the skills competition on Saturday and the game on Sunday. Red Wings defenseman Lidstrom will get some help from assistant captains Patrick Kane (Chicago) and Marty St. Louis (Tampa Bay), while Carolina forward Staal will get input from assistants Ryan Kesler (Vancouver) and Mike Green (Washington).
As for the rest of the All-Stars, plenty of questions will be answered on Friday night.
Who will be picked first? More importantly, who will be left to suffer the ignominy of being the first Mr. Irrelevant as the last pick? Will the Sedins end up on different teams and finally have to play against each other? Will Lidstrom follow through on his plan to draft Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward early to win over the Carolina crowd to his side? Or will he tweak Stall by taking his brother, Rangers defenseman Marc Staal?
And for Bruins fans, will Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara end up on opposite sides or be teammates once again this weekend?
The draft will begin at 8 p.m., so check back for updates on all the action in this first-time event.
