The AHL All-Star starters were announced today. The game will be played Monday at Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence. Islander prospect Nino Niederreiter headlines the Eastern Conference lineup. The former No.1 pick has 19 goals and 17 assists totaling 36 points in 40 games for Bridgeport. He recently requested a trade from the Islanders. They’d be nuts to oblige.

El Nino will be joined by teammate Matt Donovan. In his second pro season, the defenseman has six goals and 14 assists for 20 points with a plus-six rating and 47 penalty minutes. Albany’s Bobby Butler is also a starter. The ex-Sen has tallied 25 points including 15 goals for the Devils’ AHL affiliate. He was expected to make the big club but New Jersey opted to keep Stefan Matteau and Mattias Tedenby, who played on the top line in their 3-2 overtime win over the Caps last night.

Also notable are ex-Ranger properties Tim Erixon and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, who each are representing Springfield. Erixon was included in the Rick Nash trade with Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. He didn’t make the Blue Jackets out of camp but is having a good second pro season with the Falcons. In 39 contests, he’s posted five goals and 24 assists for 29 points with a plus-nine and 34 PIM. Last year with Connecticut, Erixon was 3-30-33 in 52 games.

Audy-Marchessault has continued to prove he can score in the ‘A.’ The 22-year old who caught on with the Whale last year has fared well in the Jackets’ system. In 41 games thus far, he’s registered 16 goals with 28 helpers for 44 points and a plus-15 rating. In ’11-12 with the Whale, he tied for the team lead with 64 points (24-40-64) and added four markers in the AHL playoffs.
Not the biggest in stature, the Quebec native is listed at 5-9, 180. His Twitter nickname appropriately is JAM. A little easier to pronounce. Considering how thin the Rangers are, you have to wonder why they didn’t re-sign him. Would it have hurt to keep him and see if he eventually could help our roster? Or was the Mats Zuccarello experiment enough for Slats to give Audy-Marchessault the cold shoulder? They gave P.A. Parenteau a chance and he showed flashes. But was let go of and made it with the Islanders. He’s off to a decent start with Colorado.

Is the Ranger organization properly evaluating their talent? Bobby Sanguinetti and Tomas Kundratek start for the Canes and Caps. It seems to me that they sour on kids too soon.

The East lineup is rounded out by Providence goalie Niklas Svedberg, who’s posted 17 wins with a 2.23 GAA and .921 save percentage. Here is how the West stacks up:

G Justin Peters (Charlotte Checkers)
D Michal Jordan (Charlotte Checkers)
D Jamie Oleksiak (Texas Stars)
F Andrew Agozinno (Lake Erie Monsters)
F Marc Ocobello (Oklahoma City Barons)
F Ryan Hamilton (Toronto Marlies)