Andrei Markov, the eastern conference favorite.

The first results of the NHL fans votes for the upcoming All-Star game were published yesterday and the Habs defensemen Andrei Markov is leading all of the Eastern conference defensemens right now.

For Markov it is a surprize. His timid personnality has no effect on the fans votes. The fans recognize Markov's talent and an apparition to the All-Star game would be well deserved. His teammate, Mike Komisarek commented yesterday and said that Andrei really deserves to start the All-Star classic.

Among the other Montreal players, Saku Koivu and Christobal Huet also rank in the top 10 of their respective category. Fans voting will end on January 2nd.

Here are the Eastern conference poll results as of yesterday:

Forwards:

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh 94 118
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa 41 198
Daniel Briere, Philadelphie 32 751
Alex Ovechkin, Washington 30 686
Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay 28 615
Dany Heatley, Ottawa 27 121
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta 26 628
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh 18 015
Saku Koivu, Montreal 17 891
Maxim Afinogenov, Buffalo 17 782

Defensemens:

Andrei Markov, Montreal 48 134
Zdeno Chara, Boston 45 949
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto 36 125
Brian Campbell, Buffalo 33 857
Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphie 30 951
Wade Redden, Ottawa 29 457
Ryan Whitney, Pittsburgh 27 028
Jay Bouwmeester, Floride 23 454
Chris Phillips, Ottawa 19 174
Bryan McCabe, Toronto 18 840

Goaltenders:

Henrik Lundqvist, NY Rangers 30 324
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey 29 631
Martin Biron, Philadelphie 27 849
Cristobal Huet, Montreal 24 515
Ryan Miller, Buffalo 14 112
Ray Emery, Ottawa 11 752
Cam Ward, Caroline 10 565
Rick DiPietro, NY Islanders 10 352
Tomas Vokoun, Floride 6 949
Olaf Kolzig, Washington 5 623

(Picture: Andrei Markov, Getty images.)