NHL-National Hockey League roundup

Dec 30 (The Sports Xchange) - With the NHL All-Star voting drawing to a close on Jan. 1, it appears the Chicago Blackhawks will dominate the lineup. Buffalo Sabres center Zemgus Gergensons remains No. 1 overall with 1,466,077 votes, but the Blackhawks are closing quickly. Chicago's Corey Crawford (935,385) is the leading goaltender by nearly 300,000 votes over Montreal's Carey Price. The Blackhawks' Duncan Keith (1,044,124) and Brent Seabrook (875,686) are leading the balloting for defensemen by a wide margin over third-place P.K. Subban of the Canadiens (667,427). Behind Gergensons among the forwards are Chicago's Patrick Kane (1,075,304) and Jonathan Toews (1,061,691). Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (704,792) is fourth and another Blackhawks player, Patrick Sharp (644,313), is next. Gergensons has only 20 points in 37 games this season, but his vote total has swelled thanks to support from his native Latvia. - - - Forward Dany Heatley cleared waivers on Tuesday, one day after the Anaheim Ducks cut loose the NHL veteran, and assigned to Norfolk of the American Hockey League. Passing through waivers allowed the Ducks to assign Heatley, who has no points in six games with the Ducks this season, to the minor leagues. The 33-year-old veteran has never played in the AHL. His one-year, $1 million contract expires at the end of the season, when he will become an unrestricted free agent. Injuries, including groin surgery, have slowed him this year. Heatley has played in 869 career NHL games with the Ducks, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators and Atlanta Thrashers. He has 372 goals, 791 points and 620 penalty minutes. - - - The St. Louis Blues sent forward Magnus Paajarvi to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. In 10 games for the Blues this season, Paajarvi has one assist and six penalty minutes. In two seasons with St. Louis, the 23-year-old has posted six goals, seven assists and 12 penalty minutes. - - - The Columbus Blue Jackets placed right winger Cam Atkinson on injured reserve retroactive to Saturday and called up center Sean Collins from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. Atkinson is expected to be sidelined for one to two weeks with an upper-body injury sustained during Saturday night's game against the Bostons Bruins. The 25-year-old has eight goals and six assists in 33 games this season. He was coming off a career year in 2013-14 when he had 21 goals and 19 assists for 40 points in 79 games. - - - The Buffalo Sabres announced goaltender Matt Hackett cleared waivers and was assigned to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. Hackett, 24, underwent reconstructive knee surgery on May 28 and has spent the season on injured reserve. He had a timetable to return to the ice by late December or early January. Hackett was 1-6-1 with a 3.10 GAA and .908 save percentage for the Sabres in 2013-14 and 13-17-2 with a 3.07 GAA and .898 save percentage for the Amerks. - - - The Tampa Bay Lightning recalled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League. Vasilevskiy played in three games with the Lightning this season and was 2-1-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. He earned his first NHL victory on December 16 at Philadelphia in his NHL debut, making 23 saves on 24 shots. Vasilevskiy became the third goalie in Lightning history to post a victory in his NHL debut. He set a new Lightning rookie record for saves in a game by making 45 on December 20 against the New York Islanders. - - - (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)