If the first week of fan balloting is any indication, the 2009 NHL All-Star Game could be the first to feature a starting lineup with all six players voted in from one team.
With more than 110,000 votes each, all six Montreal Canadiens on the ballot - goaltender Carey Price, defencemen Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek and forwards Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Alex Tanguay - are the leading vote-getters for all six positions for the Eastern Conference.
Price leads all players on the ballot with 128,642 votes, more than twice the number tallied for goaltender Roberto Luongo (60,958) in the Western Conference.
Saku Koivu (118,329), Alex Kovalev (117,080) and Alex Tanguay (115,828) lead all forwards in votes, with former Canadien-turned-Dallas Star Mike Ribeiro next up with 55,101. By comparison, forwards Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby - the last two Hart Trophy winners - have 35,547 and 25,986 votes respectively.
Montreal's top defensive pairing of Andrei Markov (126,263) and Mike Komisarek (118,202) are also the top pairing among the league's defencemen, with six-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom next at 57,376 votes.
The Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings placed the most players on the ballot with six, followed by five members of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Fans can vote for their favourite players to be in the starting lineups as many times as they want, and for the NHL is providing real-time All-Star fan balloting results online. It marks the third-consecutive year the All-Star balloting process is entirely digital. Fan balloting ends on Jan. 2.
Montreal will host the All-Star weekend in January as part of its year-long Centennial celebration. The 57th NHL All-Star Game will be played at the Bell Centre on Jan. 25.
Montreal last hosted the All-Star Game in 1993 when Patrick Roy was voted in as the lone starter from the Canadiens. He was joined by winger Kirk Muller, who was added as a reserve.
