COLUMBUS -- The Ronald McDonald House of Central Ohio is the largest in the world, with the ability to accommodate more than 130 families while their children are spending time in area hospitals.

It also now is the only one with a hockey-themed tree house.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, along with NHL All-Stars Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins, Nick Foligno of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Jonathan Drouin of the Tampa Bay Lightning, were at the Ronald McDonald House on Friday to unveil the 2015 NHL All-Star Legacy Treehouse as part of the festivities for All-Star Weekend.

"I think this is what you enjoy the most," Foligno said. "Obviously you play and you get to be in the spotlight, but these are the reasons that you want to give back and use that spotlight back for good," Foligno said. "To see those kids' faces when they walked into the tree house … it was so gratifying. What they're going through, to be able to help them … for even 10 minutes is so gratifying. It is outstanding to see what they've done here."

COLUMBUS -- The NHL Draft often is called a crapshoot because of how difficult it is to project the future of 18-year-old hockey players.

The 2015 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft presented by DraftKings on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports) is the exact opposite of that.

There are no projections to be made for captains Nick Foligno of the host Columbus Blue Jackets and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, just a list of the best players in the world to choose from.

"I’m happy that I can't really [mess] this draft up; I can't really draft a bad player," Foligno said. "I'll be nervous I'm sure, but I'm going to have a great time."

Foligno will be helped at the draft table by alternate captains Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Toews will receive advice from Rick Nash of the New York Rangers and Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks.

COLUMBUS -- The adversity they faced last season has given Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos a different perspective on what it means to be NHL All-Stars this season.

"It's tough to say I knew I would be sitting here at this time last year," Stamkos said Friday during NHL Media Day presented by DraftKings at Nationwide Arena.

At this time last season Stamkos, the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was rehabbing his surgically repaired broken right leg and clinging to a faint hope of playing in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

COLUMBUS – The National Hockey League and Columbus Blue Jackets – along with NHL All-Stars Nick Foligno (Columbus Blue Jackets), Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins) and Jonathan Drouin (Tampa Bay Lightning) as well as NHL Alumni Andrew Cassels and Jamie Allison – unveiled a hockey-themed treehouse within the stairwell at the Columbus Ronald McDonald House, the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world that serves more than 3,500 families each year. Thanks to generous contributions from the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Columbus Foundation, Marketing Activations Group and U.S. League partner McDonald's, the NHL invested $190,000 into the Columbus Ronald McDonald House as part of the 2015 NHL All-Star Legacy Treehouse.

NEW YORK / TORONTO – The National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) today announced a North American partnership with GoPro, the maker of the world's most versatile camera and enabler of some of today's most immersive and engaging content. The agreement is GoPro's first with a major professional sports league. As part of this unprecedented partnership, the NHL will use GoPro's innovative equipment and expertise to deliver hockey fans never-before-seen perspectives of the game and the talents of the top players in high-definition video content during national and regional game broadcasts and across the digital and social media platforms of the NHLPA, NHL and GoPro.

To mark another first, GoPro's Professional Broadcast Solution, developed in a partnership with Vislink, will deliver live HD points of view and will debut during the 2015 NHL® All-Star Weekend, which will be held Jan. 23-25 in Columbus, Ohio. GoPro cameras worn by players will deliver real-time HD content and multiple angles and views to bring viewers even closer to the action on the ice for the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition™ on Saturday, Jan. 24 (7 p.m. ET on NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports). Additional GoPro points of view are anticipated for the live broadcast of the 2015 Honda NHL® All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 25 (5 p.m. ET on NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

"GoPro is the perfect partner for us in our ongoing commitment to bring hockey fans closer to the game," said Bob Chesterman, NHL Senior Vice President of Programming and Production. "As the preeminent leader in adaptable cameras, only GoPro has the technology to help us and our media partners showcase the beauty and intensity of hockey in new and deeper ways. Our partnership with GoPro will be a big win for both new and lifelong hockey fans."

NEW YORK - Grammy-nominated country music artist Jo Dee Messina and longtime Columbus Blue Jackets anthem singer, Leo Welsh -- who will be accompanied by two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, will perform the U.S. and Canadian national anthems, respectively, at the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game, the National Hockey League announced Friday. Fans can watch the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game live on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN in the U.S. and on CBC and TVA Sports in Canada. Fans outside of North America will be able to watch the game via NHL GameCenter LIVE and international broadcast partners in more than 160 countries and territories around the world.

During the pre-game festivities, Messina will perform the U.S. national anthem while Welsh and two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted police will perform the Canadian national anthem. As previously announced, power-pop band Locksley will perform their hit single, "The Whip," during the player introductions; Grammy Award-nominated and multi-platinum selling recording artist Fall Out Boy will perform during the first intermission; and American rock band and Ohio State alumni O.A.R. will perform during the second intermission of the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game.

Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons is a pretty low-key guy.

He just likes to chill out when he is away from the rink. At the rink, he hates to talk about himself and will usually try to deflect the conversation toward teammates or another topic.

So it isn't difficult to see that the 21-year-old Latvian is not entirely comfortable with the spotlight provided by his countryman during the voting for the 2015 Dodge NHL All-Star Game. Hockey-mad Latvians outdueled Chicago Blackhawks fans in stuffing the ballot box, resulting in Girgensons receiving the most votes out of any player.

In the voting, the fans chose the first six All-Stars. The second-year center received 1,574,896 votes, more than 300,000 ahead of the runner-up, Chicago forward Patrick Kane.

Girgensons is immensely popular back home, not only for his exploits with the Sabres but for his contributions to the Latvian national team in the World Championships and the 2014 Sochi Olympics. How popular? A Latvian rap group made a song and video about him and his hockey-playing success.

This season, Girgensons has been a beacon of hope for the struggling Sabres. He leads them in goals (13), even-strength goals (11) and shorthanded goals (two). He's also tops among Buffalo's forwards in average time on ice (19:03).

NHL.com caught up to Girgensons during Buffalo's recent stop to play the New Jersey Devils and discussed the viral video campaign, Girgensons' love of his country and international hockey, and what he likes to do when he is away from the rink.

The stars of the 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend in Columbus will conduct a fantasy draft Friday to create teams for a real game to be played Sunday. We here at NHL.com decided to get into the spirit by conducting our own All-Star fantasy draft.

Dan Rosen played the role of Jonathan Toews; Corey Masisak played the role of Nick Foligno. We followed the same rules that All-Star captains Toews and Foligno must follow Friday during the 2015 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft presented by DraftKings (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports).

Rosen won a coin flip to pick first for Team Toews. All goaltenders had to be selected by the 10th round. All defensemen had to be gone by the end of the 15th round. Each team had to have 12 forwards, six defensemen and three goaltenders.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby will miss the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game, general manager Jim Rutherford said Thursday.

Crosby has been playing with an unspecified lower-body injury and will need about a week to heal, a statement on the Penguins website said.

On Friday, the Penguins announced that Crosby took an injection to treat the injury, which was sustained against the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 10.

Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin, also dealing with a lower-body injury, was ruled out of the All-Star Game earlier Thursday. Rutherford said Malkin reaggravated a lingering injury during a 3-2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Malkin missed parts of the second and third periods but was available for overtime. He did not play Wednesday in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

"With [Malkin], he won't be ready to play right after the break," Rutherford told the Tribune-Review on Thursday. "It's probably an injury that will take a little time to heal."

NEW YORK – The National Hockey League announced today the format for the 2015 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft™ presented by DraftKings, which will be held on Friday, Jan. 23, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports).

Forty-eight of the best hockey players in the world – 42 NHL All-Stars and six Rookies – will be available for selection in the 2015 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft™ presented by DraftKings. Picking the squads will be Team Foligno Captain Nick Foligno (CBJ), along with Assistant Captains Drew Doughty (LAK) and Patrick Kane (CHI), and Team Toews Captain Jonathan Toews (CHI), along with Assistant Captains Ryan Getzlaf (ANA) and Rick Nash (NYR).