The Puck Stops Here

This is the season of All Star Games. I have already reported on rosters for the NHL All Star Game, AHL All Star Game and the CHL Top Prospects Game. Since I was asked by Red Five from the FunHL about the Young Stars Game rosters, I will report on them for completeness.

The Young Stars Game is played during the NHL All Star Game festivities in Dallas. The current definition of a Young Star (I think the NHL has changed it alightly over the years) is a player 24 or younger who is on an entry level contract who has not previously appeared in a Young Stars Game or the NHL All Star Game and is not scheduled to participate in this year's All Star Game. Due to the lockout, this means players who debuted in the NHL either last year or this one.

Here are the rosters:

East Conference

Patrick Eaves Forward Ottawa Senators
Mike Green Defenceman Washington Captials
Phil Kessel Forward Boston Bruins
Kari Lehtonen Goalie Atlanta Thrashers
Evgeni Malkin Forward Pittsburgh Penguins
Andrej Meszaros Defenceman Ottawa Senators
Zach Parise Forward New Jersey Devils
Jordan Staal Forward Pittsburgh Penguins
Alex Steen Forward Toronto Maple Leafs
Tomas Vanek Forward Buffalo Sabres
Ryan Whitney Defenceman Pittsburgh Penguins

West Conference

Peter Budaj Goaltender Colorado Avalanche
Matt Carle Defenceman San Jose Sharks
Ryan Getzlaf Forward Anaheim Ducks
Jussi Jokinen Forward Dallas Stars
Anze Kopitar Forward Los Angeles Kings
Alexander Radulov Forward Nashville Predators
Brent Seabrooke Defenceman Chicago Blackhawks
Ladislav Smid Defenceman Edmonton Oilers
Lee Stempniak Forward St Louis Blues
Shea Weber Defenceman Nashville Predators
Wojtek Wolski Forward Colorado Avalanche

The interesting point is that the east has 7 forwards and 3 defencemen, while the west has 6 forwards and 4 defencemen, so I guess there is no standardized organization of rosters specifying exactly the numbers of forwards and defencemen just as long as there are 11 players in total. I imagined at first glance, this was a bit of "fudging" done because there was no fourth defenceman in the East Conference of any note. That is untrue, they could have just as easily added somebody like Paul Ranger of the Tampa Bay Lightning (my first pick was Ian White of the Toronto Maple Leafs but he's injured) as the fourth East Conference defenceman (or if the "fudging" was in the other direction Paul Stastny of Colorado could be the west's seventh forward), should that have been the desire.