All-Star Starting Lineups Announced

From chicagoblackhawks.com (link)

NEW YORK (Jan. 3, 2009) -- Four members of the host Montreal Canadiens – defensemen Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek, forward Alex Kovalev and goaltender Carey Price -- will line up alongside record-setting vote-getter Sidney Crosby and NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference at the opening face-off of the 57th NHL All-Star Game Jan. 25.

Crosby, the Pittsburgh captain, received the most votes in the history of NHL All-Star fan balloting, 1,713,021. Malkin had the second-highest total ever (1,585,936). Markov finished with 1,443,091 votes, Mike Komisarek with 1,373,628, Kovalev with 1,343,301 and Price with 1,515,885. Price edged Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury by fewer than 30,000 votes in a tight race that each player led in Friday night's final hours of the XM NHL All-Star Fan Balloting presented by 2K Sports. Through online votes at NHL.com and text ballots with their mobile phones, NHL fans shattered all previous records for total ballots cast while electing some of the game’s most exciting young stars.

The starting All-Star lineups were announced today in Montreal by Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau.

“In three weeks, the world’s greatest players will come here, to one of the world’s great hockey cities, to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens at NHL All-Star Weekend,” Beliveau said. “I had the pleasure of playing in 13 All-Star Games and I can tell you it was an absolute honor. I look forward to watching the stars of today.”

NHL sophomores Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were among the three Chicago Blackhawks elected Western Conference starters. Kane and Toews finished 1-2 among Western Conference forwards with 917,551 and 809,599, respectively, and will be joined by Chicago teammate Brian Campbell (784,476), who led all West defensemen. Three Anaheim Ducks players were voted to starting positions: J.S. Giguere (617,241) finished first among Western Conference goaltenders, Ryan Getzlaf (716,569) will join Kane and Toews at forward and Scott Niedermayer (637,316) will line up alongside Campbell on defense.

Six of the 12 starters named today -- including five of the six forwards -- are age 23 or younger (Kane and Toews are 20, Crosby and Price are 21, Malkin is 22 and Getzlaf is 23) and seven players will be first-time All-Star starters (Malkin, Komisarek and Price for the East; Kane, Toews, Getzlaf and Giguere for the West).

NHL fans were able to vote as often as they liked in XM NHL All-Star Fan Balloting presented by 2K Sports to select the starting lineups for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal. Fans worldwide could vote online via interactive English and French ballots at Vote.NHL.com, while U.S. and Canada residents also could cast their votes via text message using any wireless carrier. Fans could vote for up to six Eastern Conference players and six Western Conference players -- three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender. To be eligible for the 2009 All-Star team, a player must have played 20 NHL games by January 2, 2009.

While a majority of the record tally of 34 million votes were cast on the internet at NHL.com, statistics show tech-savvy NHL fans turned to texting in ever-greater numbers. Over 15 million votes were recorded from nearly 4 million text messages sent by fans using their mobile phones, including 4.3 million votes -- 29% of the texting total -- generated during the final, frantic five days of balloting with starting berths still up for grabs.

XM, which airs every NHL game for every team as the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NHL, and 2K Sports, a leading publisher of sports video games, are the NHL All-Star Fan Balloting title and presenting sponsors, respectively.

The 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend in Montreal will celebrate the Montreal Canadiens’ Centennial season with live national broadcasts of the Honda/NHL SuperSkills event on Saturday, Jan. 24, and the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 25, on CBC and RDS in Canada and VERSUS in the United States.

NASN, ASN, J Sports, Sky Mexico, Fox Sports Australia and other NHL international broadcast partners will provide live coverage of both the Honda/NHL SuperSkills event and the NHL All-Star Game to more than 150 countries and territories in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Mexico and the Caribbean. NHL Radio will provide exclusive, national radio coverage which can be heard on stations around the United States and Canada as well as on Sirius XM Radio's NHL Home Ice, located at XM channel 204 and on SIRIUS channel 208 with the “Best of XM” programming package.

NHL.com and NHL Network will provide extensive coverage of the All-Star Weekend.

2009 Eastern Conference All-Star Team Starting Lineup

Goal Carey Price Montreal 1,515,885 1st 1st
Defense Andrei Markov Montreal 1,443,091 2nd 2nd
Defense Mike Komisarek Montreal 1,373,628 1st 1st
Forward Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh 1,713,021 3rd *
Forward Evgeni Malkin Pittsburgh 1,585,936 2nd 1st
Forward Alex Kovalev Montreal 1,343,301 3rd 2nd

* includes selection as starter for 2008 All-Star Game (missed game due to injury)

2009 Western Conference All-Star Team Starting Lineup

Goal J.S. Giguere Anaheim 617,241 1st 1st
Defense Brian Campbell Chicago 784,476 3rd 2nd
Defense Scott Niedermayer Anaheim 637,316 6th * 3rd
Forward Patrick Kane Chicago 917,551 1st 1st
Forward Jonathan Toews Chicago 809,599 1st 1st
Forward Ryan Getzlaf Anaheim 716,569 2nd 1st

* includes selection as starter for 2007 All-Star Game (missed game due to injury)

2009 XM NHL All-Star Fan Balloting, Presented by 2K Sports (Final)

Eastern Conference Forwards

Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh 1,713,021
Evgeni Malkin Pittsburgh 1,585,936
Alex Kovalev Montreal 1,343,301
Saku Koivu Montreal 1,320,604
Alex Tanguay Montreal 1,296,701
Alex Ovechkin Washington 470,276
Marc Savard Boston 260,794
Patrice Bergeron Boston 235,292
Alexander Semin Washington 185,075
Simon Gagne Philadelphia 167,836
Thomas Vanek Buffalo 160,825
Mike Richards Philadelphia 136,533
Daniel Briere Philadelphia 109,518
Vincent Lecavalier Tampa Bay 86,938
Derek Roy Buffalo 82,244
Chris Drury NY Rangers 66,881
Ilya Kovalchuk Atlanta 62,159
Dany Heatley Ottawa 55,773
Scott Gomez NY Rangers 55,018
Daniel Alfredsson Ottawa 51,383
Zach Parise New Jersey 48,828
Eric Staal Carolina 48,386
Jeff Carter * Philadelphia 46,926
Markus Naslund NY Rangers 46,436
Jordan Staal * Pittsburgh 35,446
Martin St. Louis Tampa Bay 33,070
Jason Spezza Ottawa 31,841
Rod Brind'Amour Carolina 26,529
Patrik Elias New Jersey 26,325
Maxime Talbot * Pittsburgh 21,848
Phil Kessel * Boston 19,821
Ray Whitney Carolina 19,457
Brian Rolston New Jersey 19,140
Milan Lucic * Boston 15,134
Radek Smolenak * Tampa Bay 10,471
David Krejci * Boston 10,255
Trent Hunter NY Islanders 9,841

Eastern Conference Goaltenders

Carey Price Montreal 1,515,885
Marc-Andre Fleury Pittsburgh 1,486,079
Henrik Lundqvist NY Rangers 161,402
Ryan Miller Buffalo 150,724
Martin Biron Philadelphia 114,879
Tim Thomas * Boston 96,623
Martin Brodeur New Jersey 68,797
Vesa Toskala Toronto 42,445
Kari Lehtonen Atlanta 16,872
Tomas Vokoun Florida 14,753
Rick DiPietro NY Islanders 13,050

* write-in candidate

Eastern Conference Defensemen

Andrei Markov Montreal 1,443,091
Mike Komisarek Montreal 1,373,628
Sergei Gonchar Pittsburgh 1,354,079
Ryan Whitney Pittsburgh 1,311,374
Zdeno Chara Boston 464,414
Mike Green Washington 290,394
Kimmo Timonen Philadelphia 176,776
Teppo Numminen Buffalo 142,228
Tomas Kaberle Toronto 102,854
Wade Redden NY Rangers 86,489
Jay Bouwmeester Florida 81,827
Chris Phillips Ottawa 30,558

Western Conference Forwards

Patrick Kane Chicago 917,551
Jonathan Toews Chicago 809,599
Ryan Getzlaf Anaheim 716,569
Joe Thornton San Jose 442,364
Marian Hossa Detroit 419,463
Jarome Iginla Calgary 411,862
Pavel Datsyuk Detroit 395,316
Patrick Marleau San Jose 385,538
Henrik Zetterberg Detroit 384,307
Mikko Koivu Minnesota 176,307
Rick Nash Columbus 129,239
Shane Doan Phoenix 109,018
Joe Sakic Colorado 107,762
Mike Ribeiro Dallas 99,490
Brad Boyes St. Louis 89,414
Olli Jokinen Phoenix 85,207
Ales Hemsky Edmonton 82,039
Marian Gaborik Minnesota 78,361
Jason Arnott Nashville 70,483
Dustin Brown Los Angeles 68,302
Paul Stastny Colorado 67,002
Mike Modano Dallas 66,584
Devin Setoguchi * San Jose 62,353
Patrick Sharp * Chicago 54,137
Anze Kopitar Los Angeles 53,412
Daniel Sedin Vancouver 50,866
Teemu Selanne * Anaheim 48,735
Paul Kariya St. Louis 47,916
Henrik Sedin Vancouver 47,665
Milan Hejduk Colorado 43,845
Brenden Morrow Dallas 36,272
Shawn Horcoff Edmonton 33,301
Keith Tkachuk St. Louis 31,033
Brad Richards Dallas 29,283

* write-in candidate

Western Conference Defensemen

Brian Campbell Chicago 784,476
Scott Niedermayer Anaheim 637,316
Chris Pronger Anaheim 625,810
Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit 570,151
Dion Phaneuf Calgary 483,441
Dan Boyle San Jose 472,018
Rob Blake San Jose 407,124
Brian Rafalski Detroit 246,810
Sheldon Souray Edmonton 180,353
Shea Weber Nashville 139,170
Brent Burns Minnesota 104,034
Robyn Regehr Calgary 56,581

Western Conference Goaltenders

J.S. Giguere Anaheim 617,241
Roberto Luongo Vancouver 464,942
Evgeni Nabokov San Jose 458,758
Chris Osgood Detroit 206,919
Niklas Backstrom Minnesota 136,263
Ilya Bryzgalov Phoenix 84,165
Miikka Kiprusoff Calgary 83,459
Pascal Leclaire Columbus 49,702
Marty Turco Dallas 48,166