The Chicago Blackhawks placed
five players among the first six announced Saturday for this
month's NHL All-Star Game.
Forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, defensemen Duncan Keith
and Brent Seabrook, and goaltender Corey Crawford will represent
the Blackhawks at NHL All-Star Weekend, Jan. 24-25 at Nationwide
Arena in Columbus. Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons was
also announced as an All-Star based on the latest voting totals.
The 20-year-old Girgensons, a native of Latvia, led all players
with 1,574,896 votes. The 14th overall pick in the 2012 draft,
Girgensons entered play Saturday with 11 goals and nine assists in
39 games this season.
Most of the voting support Girgensons had came from his home
country. He played for Latvia at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Fan voting stopped on Jan. 1. The remaining
All-Star roster will be determined by the NHL and announced next
Saturday.
Kane, who leads Chicago with 18 goals and 23 assists, will appear
in his fourth All-Star Game. He had 1,232,201 votes, which was
second-most in the league.
Toews, who has 13 goals and 19 assists this season, will head to
his third All-Star contest. It will also be the third for Keith,
who was fourth in voting, just behind Toews.
Seabrook, who is in his 10th season, will participate in his first
All-Star Game. He was second in voting among defensemen with
1,016,992 tallies.
Crawford, who has a 14-7-2 record with a 2.13 goals-against average
this season, will also play in his initial All-Star Game. He led
all goaltenders with 1,099,504 votes.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Kris
Versteeg will be sidelined about a month due to a left hand injury
he suffered in the 3-2 loss to Washington at the Winter Classic on
Thursday.
Coach Joel Quenneville made the announcement regarding Versteeg,
who was hurt when he was hit in the hand by a shot off the stick of
Washington's Eric Fehr. Versteeg will likely avoid surgery.
In 34 games this season, Versteeg has nine goals and 18 assists.
On Friday, the Blackhawks recalled forward Teuvo Teravainen from
Rockford of the American Hockey League.
The Blackhawks are at home tonight against Dallas.
