Theodore and Iginla lead the list of twenty-somethings who are making the game their own. That list is hardly limited to the two young stars, however. Carolina's Jeff O'Neill, Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi and Ed Jovanovski, Ottawa's Radek Bonk, St. Louis' Pavol Demitra and Boston's Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov are included on most lists of emerging superstars. The same can be said of Philadelphia's Simon Gagne, Edmonton's Ryan Smyth and New Jersey's Scott Gomez and John Madden. All those players represent merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the young talent that abounds in the NHL.

The Atlanta Thrashers and Florida Panthers boast a stunning array of emerging talent. The Thrashers had two of the three finalists for the 2002 Calder Trophy for top rookie honors. Both Dany Heatley, the Calder winner, and runner-up Ilya Kovalchuk, are huge talents whose offensive exploits were the talk of hockey in 2001-02. The Panthers' Kristian Huselius was the third finalist for the Calder Trophy last season.

Huselius and rising stars like goalie Roberto Luongo, forward Stephen Weiss and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester are key pieces of evidence that Florida's rebuilding program under GM Rick Dudley and coach Mike Keenan will be completed far sooner than expected.

"I can't make the decision on what's going to happen," said Bouwmeester, who was taken third overall in the 2002 Entry Draft. "All I can do is come in and make sure that I give the best effort possible. The opportunity is there and I want to take advantage of it. I look at the depth chart and they've got a lot of pretty good young players. I know it's going to be tough, but I'm going to give it my best shot. That's all you can ask."

But Keenan likes what he sees of the mobile defenseman.

"Definitely, he's going to have a good chance," Keenan said. "I like the guy because he's big, strong and he's a good character. He wouldn't say a terse word about anything. He's quiet and just goes out to get the job done.

"When you build teams you have to have those three elements," Keenan said of being able to combine emerging young players in goal, on defense and at forward. "In Chicago, we did it with Chris Chelios, Ed Belfour and Jeremy Roenick. In New York, we did it with Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter."

In Florida, he will do it with Luongo, Bouwmeester and Weiss.

The NHL's other Florida franchise in Tampa Bay is exhibiting similar signs as young talents like Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Pavel Kubina continue to develop.

The growing number of young stars in the NHL forced the League to begin a YoungStars game during All-Star Weekend. At the inaugural Topps/NHL YoungStars Game, the Thrashers' Kovalchuk put on a clinic, scoring six goals in a wildly entertaining 13-7 win for the team coached by ESPN analyst Barry Melrose.

The game is designed for players under 25 who are still in their entry-level contracts and features a four-on-four format.

"Just give him the puck and he's going to score," Carolina defenseman David Tanabe said of Kovalchuk, his teammate in the YoungStars game. "We recognized his ability early on. He's highly skilled and you have to respect that. He's going to get stronger and his skills are going to develop more.

"It's going to be scary when that happens. He's definitely a player to watch."