"The guys that are there deserve to be there, they're definitely All-Star players," said Mike Richards, who many expected to also be named to the Eastern Conference team along with Carter yesterday. "I know we have the right guy in the game from our team, that's for sure."

For Carter, the selection was an unexpected honor, unexpected at least at the start of he season.

"It's good, it's exciting," said Carter, who had 27 goals going into last night's game against Minnesota. "It's definitely a big honor. There are a lot of deserving guys in the league, especially on our team and a lot of guys could have gone. It's going to be a good experience and it should be fun.

"I didn't expect this," he added, "not at all. I'm usually a slow starter and I got off to a decent start there and kept things rolling and guess it's always in the back of your mind that you might get a look, but I tried not to really think about it too much. I just tried to go out and play."

Still, with only one Flyer out of five on the ballot and Carter, who was a write-in, finishing among the conference leaders in voting, the question of how the players are selected deserves some consideration from the league. Because of a massive voting campaign by the Montreal Canadiens and their fans, four of the six starters from the conference are Canadiens. The All-Star Game will be played Jan. 25 in Montreal.

The other two, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, are from Pittsburgh. The Western Conference had a similar situation with all six starters coming from two teams.

The league added another slight by adding three players from Boston, Tim Thomas, Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara.

Carter was chosen because of his outstanding play this season, but certainly Richards, Simon Gagne and Kimmo Timonen - or at least one of the three - deserved to be picked in addition to Carter.

"I don't think it's disappointing," Richards said. "The fans voted by ballot and should pick the teams, if they are going to be the ones paying the money to be there and watch the game."

Marty Biron, who was also on the ballot, wasn't as diplomatic.

"I think we need to look at the voting," Biron said. "We've got 42 guys going to the game because they carry three goalies each side and there are 30 teams and you have 12 guys represent four teams in the voting so I think there are probably some guys that deserve to go that probably are not going to go because of the voting and maybe also because of the fact that every team has to be represented.

"We had probably four guys in here, at least, that should have a spot on that team. You can't send all four of them, but hopefully you can send more than one."

Another player who was on the ballot but was unlikely to be chosen due to his injuries is Danny Briere, who has played in only nine games this season.

"I have to be careful what I say because I was voted a few years ago," Briere said, laughing. "I think our team had two or three more guys that deserved to go but it's tough.

"It's the All-Star Game, there are 15 teams and they all probably need to be represented. So, when the fans speak and pick four guys from one team, it takes away from some guys' chances. But it is what it is and I'm not going to complain about it." *