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Numbers: How Team Lidstrom, Team Staal stack up

By John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist

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Numbers: How Team Lidstrom, Team Staal stack up
 
The teams for the NHL All-Star Game presented by Discover are set. Carolina's Eric Staal and Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom chose up sides Friday night for the game at the RBC Center on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, Versus, CBC, RDS).

The selection process was light-hearted, with one set of brothers (the Staals) ending up on the same team -- but another (the Sedin twins) facing the prospect of opposing each other for the first time in their careers.

Here's a numerical look at some of the highlights of the All-Star Fantasy Draft:

1 -- Vezina Trophy winners taking part in the game. Only Boston's Tim Thomas (2009) will be on the ice -- he was the first goaltender taken by Team Lidstrom. That could be a good omen for Team Lidstrom, because Thomas has been the winning goaltender in each of the last two All-Star Games.

2 -- Players in the history of the All-Star Game who were born in Switzerland. Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller, taken by Team Lidstrom, joins Mark Streit in 2009 as the only Swiss players  to make the game. Hiller was also the sixth and last goaltender taken.

3 -- Members of the 2004 Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning team appearing in the 2011 All-Star Game. Team Lidstrom has alternate captain Martin St. Louis and center Brad Richards, while defenseman Dan Boyle will skate for Team Staal seven years after they won a Cup together with the Bolts.

4 -- Conn Smythe Trophy winners who will play in the All-Star Game. Lidstrom (2002 with Detroit), Jonathan Toews (2010/Chicago) and Richards (2004/Tampa Bay) will play for Team Lidstrom, while Cam Ward (2006/Carolina) will play for Team Staal.

6 -- Players on Team Staal with 20 or more goals, one more than Team Lidstrom. All six of Team Staal's 20-goal players have 23 or more goals; Lidstrom's team owns the NHL's top goal-scorer in Steven Stamkos, but aside from Daniel Briere (26), it doesn’t have anyone with more than 20 goals. 

7 -- Teams that had players selected by both Team Staal and Team Lidstrom. That group includes three teams  (Anaheim, Boston and Pittsburgh) that have a goaltender on Team Lidstrom and a shooter on Team Staal. 

9 -- Years since New Jersey's Patrik Elias made the All-Star Game. Elias, the leading scorer in the history of the Devils' franchise, will be part of Team Staal in his first appearance in an All-Star Game since 2002.

11 -- Stanley Cups won by the members of Team Lidstrom, including four by Lidstrom himself, three more than Team Staal. Lidstrom and Elias (2000 and 2003 for New Jersey) are the only multiple-Cup winners.

13 -- Shutouts by each group of three goaltenders. The teams mirror each other -- each has a goaltender with seven (Tim Thomas/Lidstrom; Henrik Lundqvist/Staal), one with four (Jonas Hiller/Lidstrom; Carey Price/Staal) and two (Marc-Andre Fleury/Lidstrom; Cam Ward/Staal).

14 --
Players from the Western Conference taken by Team Lidstrom, whose leader, Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom,  plays in the West. Team Staal, led by Carolina's Eric Staal, has 13 of its 21 players from Eastern Conference teams.

18 -- Age of Carolina forward Jeff Skinner, who was taken by Team Staal. Skinner is the youngest player ever to be taken for an All-Star Game -- he's eight days younger than Steve Yzerman was when he appeared in the 1984 game.

20 -- Age of Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson,  taken by Team Staal. He's the youngest defenseman on either team -- by three years.

24 -- Goal margin between the forwards on Team Staal (255) and Team Lidstrom (231).  Team Lidstrom has the top scorer; Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos has 38 goals. Team Staal has the next two highest scorers in the game -- Vancouver's Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler each have 27.

29 -- Years since a Pittsburgh Penguin goaltender made an All-Star team. Marc-Andre Fleury (Team Staal) is the first Penguin to make it since Michel Dion in 1982.

61 --
Goals scored by Team Lidstrom's six defensemen, compared with 49 for Team Staal.  The top three defensemen in goals -- Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Burns and Lidstrom -- are all on the same team. The only blueliner on Team Staal who's hit double figures in goals is Zdeno Chara.

72 -- Wins so far this season by the three goaltenders on Team Lidstrom -- Hiller has 25, Thomas has 24 and Fleury has 23. Team Staal's goaltenders have 67 wins -- 24 for Carey Price, 23 for Cam Ward and 21 for Lundqvist.

214 -- Points by the defensive corps for Team Lidstrom, compared with 168 for Team Staal.  Team Lidstrom has Phoenix's Keith Yandle, the leader among defensemen with 44 points, as well as Lidstrom (42) and Byfuglien (41). Pittsburgh's Kris Letang is tops on Team Staal with 41.

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