Los Angeles Kings goalie Cam Talbot will be keeping a blog throughout the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend. In his first entry, he writes about the Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Player Draft on Thursday, his thoughts on being selected by a team that features five members of the Vancouver Canucks, and his thoughts about being around the other All-Stars:
The All-Star Draft was pretty good. I think the fans really enjoyed it. The celebrity judges were a nice touch I thought this time around, which is pretty cool. Any time you can get Justin Bieber and Michael Buble’ on stage, that’s pretty cool. So, from that perspective, I think the guys liked it. I ended up on Team Canucks. I think there was something with the captains where you don’t pick my guy and I won’t pick your guy. It was a good experience. It was fun.
I wasn’t trying to figure out where I would get picked as the other goalies started getting picked. The other seven guys are all having unbelievable years, too. And the way I see it, even if I got picked dead last, it didn't matter to me. There are 44 guys here, and I'm one of those 44 in the whole NHL. So, it was not a big deal if I went dead last because it was just fun to be a part of.
I got in three hours before this because we had a game in Nashville last night, so I didn't get a whole lot of time. So, I basically landed, got to the hotel, saw the kids for 20 minutes, shower, changed and went to the red carpet. So, unfortunately, I haven't been able to experience too much yet. But I'm looking forward to that the rest of the weekend.
As for being in the room with all the other All-Stars, I looked around and … the first time I was in Vegas, I was like “I don't belong here”, and I still don't think I belong here. So, I looked around the room like I'm intimidated. I'm the oldest guy here. So, it's one of those things where I still have those pinch-me moments. I think that just goes to show how special a lot of these young guys in this League are, so it's a pretty cool experience and to have these guys in the room, getting to talk to them as well. Just makes it that much better.
