Iginla, Lecavalier named NHL All-Star Game captains

NEW YORK -- Right wing Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames and center Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning have been named team captains for the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, Sunday, Jan. 27 at Philips Arena in Atlanta (6 p.m. ET, VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL Radio), the National Hockey League announced today.

Iginla, making his fourth career All-Star game appearance, will lead the Western Conference. Lecavalier, skating in his third All-Star Game, will represent the East. Each player, on-pace to record a career-high scoring total this season, was voted to the starting lineups in All-Star fan balloting.

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Iginla, 30, has played his entire 11-year NHL career with the Flames, serving as team captain since the start of the 2003-04 season. He became the franchise leader in career games with the club Nov. 29 with his 804th appearance, eclipsing the record set by Al MacInnis. Iginla has tallied 62 points in 2007-08 (32 goals, 30 assists), one point behind NHL leaders Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers (37-26--63), Lecavalier (28-35--63) and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (20-43--63). Iginla has captured the Maurice Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer (2002, 2004), the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL’s MVP as voted by the players (2002), the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer (2002) and the King Clancy Award for leadership and community service (2004).

The 27-year-old Lecavalier, drafted first overall by the Lightning in 1998, has played all eight of his NHL seasons in Tampa Bay. Lecavalier tallied a Lightning-record 52 goals to capture his first career Maurice Richard Trophy in 2006-07 and has continued his hot pace this season: his eight-game multiple-point scoring streak from Nov. 3-19 was the longest in the NHL since Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr in 1996 (10 games). In October, Lecavalier announced a $3-million commitment to construction of the new All Children’s Hospital in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., specifically for a state-of-the art facility that will be named the Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

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 s well as on XM Satellite Radio's NHL Home Ice and NHL.com.