One player has two gold and two silver medals at the World Championships, as well as one World Cup championship, and was a member of Canada's 2006 Winter Olympic team. The other player has 188 penalty minutes in 83 NHL games.
But on Thursday, Phoenix Coyotes wingers Shane Doan and Paul Bissonnette were each granted equal captain's powers by That's Hockey host Gino Reda to choose their all-star squads based on the players that are available for Sunday's All-Star Game.
They both had to follow the same rules that all-star captains Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit and Eric Staal of Carolina will have to follow when Friday's actual selections are made at the NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft (TSN, 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt).
Doan, the longest-tenured player on the Coyotes, won the coin toss and with the first overall selection picked teammate Keith Yandle. The Coyotes blueliner was named to the All-Star Game roster earlier this week to replace injured Atlanta defenceman Tobias Enstrom.
The charismatic Bissonnette, who has quickly built a passionate fan following with his unique observations on Twitter as @BizNasty2point0, selected Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist with his first overall selection.
"I was gonna do the same thing (pick Yandle) but will throw a curveball and go with a goalie," Bissonnette told Reda. "The King of New York, Henrik Lundqvist because we're going to charter a plane and head back to New York City and my team's going to party. That's what the All-Star (game) is about."
Bissonnette, who received more than 20,000 write-in votes as part of the NHL all-star fan balloting process, was tongue-in-cheek as he explained his own selection criteria and made no secret of where his loyalties lie.
"I'll pick someone based on his abilities off the ice, and is a superstar like myself."
Bissonnette was as good as his word, selecting hard-nosed Atlanta Thrasher Dustin Byfuglien with his second choice.
Said Bissonnette of Byfuglien, "I heard he slept at Jerry Springer's house after winning the Stanley Cup, so if you do that you're alright in my books."
Doan took his first goalie with his second pick, grabbing Montreal's Carey Price. He later chose Cam Ward and Jonas Hiller as his other backstops.
Bissonnette's second goalie after Lundqvist was Marc-Andre Fleury of the Penguins. He also chose Tim Thomas of the Bruins.
Some of the NHL's top shooters were selected later in the draft. Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay went in the eighth round to Bissonnette, while Washington's Alex Ovechkin was selected in the 11th round by Doan.
Vancouver's Sedin brothers were drafted to different squads. Daniel went to Doan in round 12, while Henrik went one round later to Bissonnette.
The last two picks of the draft were Toronto's Phil Kessel (Doan), and the Blues' David Backes (Bissonnette).
Of the Kessel pick, Doan explained that "Yanzs (Yandle) likes him, so in honour of Yanzs, I'll have to go with Kessel."
When the smoke cleared, Doan compared the rosters and summed up the draft with a simple analysis of the 18 players on each squad.
"His theory of picking is different than mine," laughed Doan.
Click here to see the complete rosters of Team Doan and Team Bissonnette.
