Star 5th in All-Star votes

Ilya Kovalchuk is slowly climbing up the All-Star vote-getter list, where the latest released totals have him in fifth place. He passed fellow Russian superstar Alex Ovechkin to get there. He currently holds a slight lead in votes over Ovechkin, 106,736 to 106,121.

But don't expect to see Kovalchuk voting away on the Internet to help his cause.

"Seriously, it's no big deal to me," he said. "I know we're not in the best market; usually the Canadian [players] or something get more votes."

Last year when he didn't make the All-Star Game in Dallas, Kovalchuk went to Las Vegas with his family. A couple of days playing roulette at the Bellagio made up for the snub.

"I didn't lose money, too," he said. "So that was good."