COLUMBUS, OHIO – Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire is the leading vote getter among the National Hockey League's Western Conference goaltenders, while left wing Rick Nash ranks ninth among Western Conference forwards in XM/NHL All-Star Fan Balloting, presented by 2K Sports, the NHL announced November 28.

Leclaire leads all Western Conference goaltenders with 76,665 votes, 4,495 votes better than Vancouver's Roberto Luongo. Nash ranks ninth among Western Conference forwards with 43,477 votes.

Detroit Red Wings teammates Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg are the top vote-getters in the West in the XM / NHL All-Star Fan Balloting, Presented by 2K Sports. Red Wings captain Lidstrom leads the Western Conference with 158,349 votes while assistant captain Zetterberg is second with 115,543. In third for the second straight week is Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf with 111,940 votes. More than 4.17 million votes have been cast in the all-digital voting program.

The voting will determine the starting lineups for the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, Jan. 27 in Atlanta (6 p.m. ET, VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NASN, NHL Radio). Fans can vote for six Eastern Conference All-Stars and six Western Conference All-Stars: three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender for each team. If a player is not listed on the ballot, a space is provided for write-in votes. The three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender from each Conference receiving the most votes will comprise the starting lineups. Each of the 30 NHL Clubs has at least two representatives on the ballot.

Leading all vote-getters among defensemen are Lidstrom and Phaneuf. The front-runners among forwards in votes are Zetterberg, Jarome Iginla (81,739) of the Calgary Flames and Pavel Datsyuk (79,590) of the Red Wings. Netminder Pascal Leclaire of the Columbus Blue Jackets is the top goaltender in votes with 76,665.

Through Jan. 2, fans around the world can go online at NHL.com to "Vote Now, Vote Often" for the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star starters for the 2008 NHL All-Star Game. U.S. fans also can cast votes through Verizon Wireless Mobile Web 2.0-enabled phones.

On NHL.com, the XM/NHL All-Star Fan Balloting, Presented by 2K Sports section features an interactive ballot, showcasing players with video clips, photos and virtual video game highlights created from in-game NHL® 2K8 footage. Residents of the United States and Canada who vote are able to register for a chance to win a variety of daily prizes, including XM XpressRC radios with three months of free service, 2K Sports games, autographed 2008 NHL All-Star jerseys and shop.NHL.com gift certificates.

One grand-prize winner will receive a trip for two to attend the 2008 NHL All-Star Game as guests of XM. The winner will watch the game in a private suite with former NHL players. Additionally, each registered voter will automatically qualify to receive a 14-day free trial of XM Radio Online.

Verizon Wireless customers can vote and can register for the sweepstakes by voting using their Mobile Web 2.0-enabled phones. The process is simple: launch the Mobile Web browser, select Sports, select NHL Mobile and then select All-Star Balloting. To vote, follow the instructions on the screen.

The 2008 NHL All-Star Weekend in Atlanta will feature live national broadcasts of the Dodge/NHL SuperSkills event on Saturday, Jan. 26 and the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 27 on VERSUS in the United States and CBC and RDS in Canada. NASN and other international broadcasters will provide live coverage of both the Dodge/NHL SuperSkills event and the NHL All-Star Game to more than 115 countries and territories in Europe. NHL RADIO on Westwood One will provide exclusive, national radio coverage which can be heard on stations around the United States and Canada as well as on XM Satellite Radio's NHL Home Ice and NHL.com.

XM / NHL All-Star Fan Balloting, Presented by 2K Sports

Western Conference
(as of 11/26/07)

Top 15 Forwards

Henrik Zetterberg       Detroit           115,453

Jarome Iginla             Calgary            81,739

Pavel Datsyuk            Detroit              79,590

Joe Sakic                    Colorado         65,511

Mike Cammalleri       Los Angeles  61,880

Joe Thornton             San Jose        53,509

Paul Stastny               Colorado       48,517

Jonathan Cheechoo San Jose      46,218

Rick Nash                   Columbus    43,477

Ryan Getzlaf               Anaheim       42,023

Marian Gaborik         Minnesota     40,725

Jason Arnott             Nashville       37,779

Mike Modano           Dallas            30,895

Anze Kopitar            Los Angeles 26,979

Paul Kariya              St. Louis        26,108

Top 10 Defensemen

Nicklas Lidstrom    Detroit         158,349

Dion Phaneuf         Calgary        111,940

Chris Pronger         Anaheim       73,059

Rob Blake               Los Angeles 57,805

Francois Beauchemin Anaheim 52,880

Brian Rafalski        Detroit            42,097

Scott Hannan         Colorado       33,676

Sheldon Souray     Edmonton    32,407

Sergei Zubov          Dallas           30,132

Ed Jovanovski        Phoenix         28,303

Top 5 Goaltenders

Pascal Leclaire     Columbus     76,665

Roberto Luongo    Vancouver     72,170

Dominik Hasek      Detroit           37,717

J.-Sebastien Giguere Anaheim 36,953

Niklas Backstrom  Minnesota    33,567

*write-in candidate