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Young Stars Highlight West All-Star Reserves

Posted on: Thursday, 10 January 2008, 15:00 CST

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Three of the NHL's young guns highlighted the 16 players selected as Western Conference reserves for the All-Star Game, to be played January 27 in Atlanta.

Centers Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks, Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings and Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche, all under the age of 23, were among seven players named to their first All-Star team.

Stastny, 22, leads the Avalanche with 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists), Kopitar, 20, tops the Kings with 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists) and Getzlaf, 22, leads the way for the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) and a team best plus-20 rating.

Joining the young trio of centers as first time All-Stars are goaltender Manny Legace of the St. Louis Blues, defenseman Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks and forwards Shawn Horcoff of the Edmonton Oilers and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks.

Legace will be joined in goal by Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings and Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks. Nabokov is the only goaltender in the NHL to appear in each of his team's games this season and leads the league in wins with 23, while Osgood has posted a 19-2-1 record and a league-best 1.68 goals against average for the top team in the NHL.

Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, who was named as the starter in goal Tuesday, will not play.

Nabokov will be one of two Sharks on the Western Conference squad, as forward Joe Thornton was named to his fifth All-Star team. The remaining reserve forwards are Jason Arnott of the Nashville Predators, Marian Gaborik of the Minnesota Wild and Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

On defense, the Western squad will feature three experienced blue-liners along with first-timer Keith. Sergei Zubov of the Dallas Stars was named to his fourth All-Star team, while Ed Jovanoski of the Phoenix Coyotes and Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks were both named All-Stars for the fifth time.

The 16 reserves were selected by the NHL's Hockey Operations Department and the league's general managers. They join the five starters selected by the fans; defenseman Dion Phaneuf and forward Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings.

The Western Conference will be coached by another first-timer, Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock.

01/10 13:23:19 ET

Source: The Sports Network

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