Side bets, collusion and bragging rights: celebrity captains embrace NHL All-Star fantasy draft

It didn’t have players giggling while sipping from mysterious cups. Nor did it have a conspiracy to screw Alex Ovechkin out of a car. Honestly? It was a little messy. But at least the NHL shot its shot by bringing back the fantasy draft at the All-Star Game for the first time since 2015.

The extra wrinkle: attaching celebrity captains to each squad for the 2024 event in Actor Will Arnett, pop icon Justin Bieber, crooner sensation Michael Buble and emerging pop superstar Tate McRae.

In what was obviously their first foray into live drafting teams of NHL All-Stars, what were the celebrity captains’ strategies?

Step 1: strike some backroom deals before the drafting even began. That’s how we ended up with four Vancouver Canucks on the Buble/Quinn Hughes team; Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly all on Team Matthews/Bieber; Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon still attached at the hip; and so on.

“There were deals made,” said Buble, a five-time Grammy Award winner. “We’re not going to talk about them, but there were times where we walked over to the other podium.”

“We talked before about certain guys who are like, ‘OK listen we’re thinking… and it’s probably much like they do in the [NHL],” said Arnett, star of Arrested Development and host of the smash hit podcast SmartLess. “You guys call it collusion. We call it working it out.”

Buble, who is part owner of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and bragged about his fantasy hockey prowess Thursday, arguably entered the draft with the biggest edge over his fellow celebs. But that just fuelled the rivalry between him and counterparts even more.

“It just occurred to me, that through all the incredible songs you’ve done over the years, and all the hearts of women you’ve won over around the world, with all that talk about fantasy hockey, you lost ’em all in one sentence,” Arnett said. “It all just evaporated. Years of building it up. And it’s just gone.”

“This is real,” Buble said. “Even though he was going to say we’re just figureheads, it’s not true. We literally are the heart and soul of these teams. If they win, it’ll be because of us, and if we lose, it’ll be because of us.”

“You actually own a hockey team. I do not,” Arnett added. “The last thing you want to do when you’re putting a hockey team together is ask the actor for their advice. So I’m just trying to help those guys make the best…by the way, of all the skaters in Blades of Glory, all the actors, I was the best.”

Buble and Arnett understood the assignment Thursday night, tongues firmly planted in their cheeks during their post-draft pressers, with Buble even cracking a joke about micro-dosing mushrooms. But underneath it all, they were still pinching themselves. They’re about the biggest and most genuine celebrity fans you can find for their respective hometown teams, the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.

“These guys are the best at what they do and as a lifelong hockey fan, I’ve met some of the boys who play for Toronto, but I’ve never met Connor McDavid before,” Arnett said. “He’s a generational player. Leon Draisaitl is a generational player. Yeah, you meet a lot of other people and entertainers, but you get star struck around the hockey players for sure.”

So while it’s all in good fun – we can expect some fire behind the benches on Sunday when the celeb captains put their teams to the test against each other.

“Bragging rights in my hometown means a lot,” Arnett said. “I’m 53. Am I going to rub it in Michael’s face? Yeah. A lot.”

FULL 2024 NHL ALL-STAR ROSTERS

Team Hughes (All-Star Appearance)

F     6   Brock Boeser, VAN (2nd)

F     7   Brady Tkachuk, OTT (4th)

F     9   J.T. Miller, VAN (1st)

F   40   Elias Pettersson, VAN (4th) (A)

D  43   Quinn Hughes, VAN (2nd) (C)

F   63   Jesper Bratt, NJD (1st)

F   77   Frank Vatrano, ANA (1st)

F   81   Kyle Connor, WPG (2nd)

F   86   Nikita Kucherov, TBL (5th)

G  35   Thatcher Demko, VAN (2nd)

G  39   Cam Talbot, LAK (2nd)

Head Coach: Rick Tocchet, VAN (2nd)

Celebrity Captain: Michael Bublé

Team Matthews (All-Star appearance)

F     9   Filip Forsberg, NSH (2nd)

F     9   Clayton Keller, ARI (4th)

F   13   Mathew Barzal, NYI (3rd)

F   16   Mitch Marner, TOR (3rd)

F   16   Vincent Trocheck, NYR (2nd)

F   34   Auston Matthews, TOR (5th) (C)

D  44   Morgan Rielly, TOR (1st) (A)

F   88   William Nylander, TOR (1st)

F   93   Alex DeBrincat, DET (2nd)

G  29   Jake Oettinger, DAL (1st)

G  31   Igor Shesterkin, NYR (2nd)

Head Coach: Jim Montgomery, BOS (2nd)

Celebrity Captain: Justin Bieber

Team MacKinnon (All-Star appearance)

D    8   Cale Makar, COL (3rd) (A)

F   11   Travis Konecny, PHI (2nd)

F   20   Sebastian Aho, CAR (3rd)

F   22   Oliver Bjorkstrand, SEA (1st)

F   23   Elias Lindholm, VAN (1st)

F   29   Nathan MacKinnon, COL (5th) (C)

F   43   Tom Wilson, WSH (2nd)

F   87   Sidney Crosby, PIT (6th)

F   97   Kirill Kaprizov, MIN (3rd)

G    1   Jeremy Swayman, BOS (1st)

G  40   Alexandar Georgiev, COL (1st)

Head Coach: Rick Bowness, WPG (1st)

Celebrity Captain: Tate McRae

Team McDavid (All-Star appearance)

F   13   Sam Reinhart, FLA (1st)

F   14   Nick Suzuki, MTL (3rd)

F   18   Robert Thomas, STL (1st)

D  26   Rasmus Dahlin, BUF (3rd)

F   29   Leon Draisaitl, EDM (5th) (A)

F   38   Boone Jenner, CBJ (1st)

F   48   Tomas Hertl, SJS (2nd)

F   88   David Pastrnak, BOS (4th)

F   97   Connor McDavid, EDM (7th) (C)

G  37   Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (4th)

G  72   Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA (2nd)

Head Coach: Peter Laviolette, NYR (4th)

Celebrity Captain: Will Arnett