NEW YORK -- The Red Wings need your help!

While much about the fan balloting for the Western Conference All-Star starters has come into focus, a wild battle is raging among three former Norris Trophy-winners for the chance line up next to Chicago’s Brian Campbell on the blue line for the face-off of the 57th NHL All-Star Game.
 
As of 7 a.m. today, Anaheim’s Scott Niedermayer had nudged slightly ahead of Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom for the second-highest vote total among Western Conference defensemen in the XM NHL® All-Star Fan Balloting presented by 2K Sports that will select the starting lineups for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal on Jan. 25.
 
Chris Pronger was hot on the heels of his Anaheim teammate Niedermayer and the Red Wings’ Lidstrom, with polls open for three more days. Campbell, meanwhile, had spent the last week surging to the top among the conference’s defensemen and led the rest of the field by nearly 80,000 votes.
 
In goal, Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere finally overtook Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo and appears to be drawing away. As of this morning, Giguere held a lead of approximately 60,000 votes over Luongo.
 
Blackhawks Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews continued to be the balloting pace-setters up front, with Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf opening a large lead over Detroit’s Marian Hossa for the third and final starting forward spot.
 
The vote totals, as of 7 a.m. ET, in the fan balloting for the Western Conference starters are detailed below.
 
Through Jan. 2, NHL fans can vote as often as they like in the XM NHL® All-Star Fan Balloting presented by 2K Sports to select the starting lineups for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal. Fans around the world can vote online via interactive English and French ballots at Vote.NHL.com. Those in the U.S. and Canada also are able to cast their votes via text message using any wireless carrier. Real-time results are available exclusively at http://Vote.NHL.com/results.
 
Fans can vote for up to six Eastern Conference players and six Western Conference players -- three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender. Fans are permitted to select as few as one player -- a balloted player or write-in -- per online ballot at Vote.NHL.com or via text message.
 
To vote using any wireless carrier, fans should text their favorite player’s last name to the shortcode 81812. Fans interested in voting for all of their favorite team’s balloted players can text the team nickname (e.g., Bruins) to 81812. Standard text messaging charges will apply.
 

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Forwards
Player                        Team              Votes
Patrick Kane                 Chicago            774,062
Jonathan Toews            Chicago            674,583
Ryan Getzlaf                 Anaheim           607,189
Marian Hossa                Detroit               385,106
Jarome Iginla                 Calgary             383,917
Joe Thornton                  San Jose           379,609
Pavel Datsyuk               Detroit               361,803
Henrik Zetterberg           Detroit               355,610
Patrick Marleau             San Jose           327,147
Mikko Koivu                   Minnesota         167,708
Rick Nash                     Columbus          121,747
Joe Sakic                      Colorado           103,464
Shane Doan                  Phoenix            98,722
Mike Ribeiro                  Dallas               94,877
Brad Boyes                   St. Louis           80,154
Olli Jokinen                   Phoenix            78,353
Ales Hemsky                 Edmonton         76,649
Marian Gaborik              Minnesota         74,353
Paul Stastny                 Colorado           64,222
Mike Modano                 Dallas               62,451
Jason Arnott                  Nashville           61,440
Dustin Brown                 Los Angeles      61,294
*Devin Setoguchi            San Jose           57,998
Anze Kopitar                 Los Angeles      50,604
*Patrick Sharp                Chicago            49,008
Daniel Sedin                  Vancouver         48,093
*Teemu Selanne            Anaheim           46,932
Henrik Sedin                  Vancouver         45,501
Paul Kariya                   St. Louis           45,009
Milan Hejduk                 Colorado           41,131
Brenden Morrow            Dallas               34,704
Shawn Horcoff               Edmonton         30,606
Keith Tkachuk               St. Louis           28,259
Brad Richards                Dallas               27,117
 
Defensemen
Brian Campbell              Chicago            655,222
Scott Niedermayer         Anaheim           532,702
Nicklas Lidstrom            Detroit               526,555
Chris Pronger                Anaheim           523,113
Dion Phaneuf                 Calgary             453,335
Dan Boyle                     San Jose           404,915
Rob Blake                     San Jose           345,524
Brian Rafalski                Detroit               225,132
Sheldon Souray             Edmonton         169,818
Shea Weber                  Nashville           129,843
Brent Burns                   Minnesota         99,395
Robyn Regehr                Calgary             51,776
 
Goalies
Jean-Sebastien Giguere Anaheim           511,750
Roberto Luongo              Vancouver         438,841
Evgeni   Nabokov            San Jose           394,245
Chris Osgood                Detroit               188,700
Niklas Backstrom          Minnesota         128,547
Ilya Bryzgalov                Phoenix            76,934
Miikka Kiprusoff             Calgary             76,309
Pascal Leclaire              Columbus          46,818
Marty Turco                   Dallas               45,141
 
Note: Write-in candidates are denoted by an asterisk (*).