Toronto, ON – Toronto's Phil Kessel and James Reimer and Ottawa's Erik Karlsson lead their respective positions in fan balloting for the 2012 All Star game.
Kessel, who leads the league with 34 points, leads all players and forwards with 384,029 votes and holds a comfortable lead over Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, who has totaled 320,865 votes despite playing just eight games thus far this season.
Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson (320,100) and Jason Spezza (287,717) are in third and fourth, respectively, Toronto's Joffrey Lupul is fifth while Ottawa's Milan Michalek is sixth.
Karlsson leads all defensemen with 351,957 votes and is trailed by Toronto's Dion Phaneuf, who has 324,031 votes. Pittsburgh's Kris Letang, Boston's Zdeno Chara and Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit sit in the next three spots.
Reimer has 248,412 votes to lead goaltenders, but it is a tenous lead as it is just 5,101 votes ahead of Boston's Tim Thomas, the reigning Conn Smythe winner. Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury is 3,022 votes back of Thomas.
Fan balloting runs through January 4, 2012 with the top three forwards, two defensemen and goalie being chosen by the fans.
The game and accompanying festivities will be hosted by the Senators on January 28-29 in Ottawa, Ontario.
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