Selanne May Get All-Star Reprieve

Teemu Selanne, the sixth-leading scorer in the NHL, was left off the Western Conference All-Star team when the roster was announced, but he still could be added as a replacement for an injured player.

“I think that’s a gross injustice,” Anaheim General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “A guy in the top 10 or 12 in scoring should be on the team.”

Also snubbed: Phoenix’s Keith Tkachuk, who ranks 12th in scoring; the Coyotes’ only All-Star spot went to defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, a former Duck.

“I was expecting to be there, but there are a lot of good players,” said Selanne, who could replace Colorado’s Forsberg or Edmonton’s Arnott, who are injured.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed Teemu will be a standby,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said.

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Wilson plans to keep playing Ken Baumgartner as a defenseman, and that could mean first-round pick Ruslan Salei will be sent to the minors.

Salei and Nikolai Tsulygin probably will be regular scratches as long as Baumgartner is playing defense instead of forward, as he has in two of the last three games. For the sake of Salei’s development, it’s important for him to play regularly. He has appeared in 21 of the Ducks’ 37 games and has a minus-seven plus-minus rating, lowest among the team’s defensemen.