NEW YORK -- Jay Bouwmeester, the first defenseman drafted last year, and two Florida Panthers teammates were selected Saturday to play in the second NHL YoungStars Game.

Bouwmeester, the No. 3 pick, was chosen with fellow Panthers rookie Stephen Weiss and second-year forward Niklas Hagman for the Feb. 1 game in front of home fans in Sunrise, Fla., during NHL All-Star weekend.

The game is for players 25-and-under who are on entry-level contracts. The Eastern and Western Conference will square off against each other with 14-player teams. It is the same format as the NHL All-Star Game, which returns to an East against West format after five years of matching North America versus the World.

Rick Nash, the No. 1 overall pick last year, heads the Western Conference team. Nash, at 18 the youngest player chosen for the game, is the top scorer among NHL rookies this season.

The Buffalo Sabres are also sending three players to the game.

Goalie Ryan Miller, who won five times in his first nine NHL games, is joined by Buffalo rookie defenseman Henrik Tallinder and third-year forward Taylor Pyatt on the East team.

Making up an all-rookie defense for the East are Philadelphia's Dennis Seidenberg and Anton Volchenkov of Ottawa. The forwards include rookies Pavel Brendl of Philadelphia; Montreal's Marcel Hossa, the brother of Ottawa All-Star Marian Hossa; Brian Sutherby of Washington; Alexander Svitov of Tampa Bay; and the New York Islanders' Mattias Weinhandl.

The remaining forward is Erik Cole, a second-year player who ranks fourth in scoring for Carolina.

Joining Nash among Western Conference forwards is Chicago's Tyler Arnason, second in scoring for NHL rookies. Arnason has been chosen as rookie of the month twice this season.

Stanislav Chistov of Anaheim; Alexander Frolov of Los Angeles; Nashville's Adam Hall; Ales Hemsky of Edmonton; Branko Radivojevic of Phoenix; and Dallas' Niko Kapanen make up the all-rookie forward squad for the West.

Kapanen has only three NHL goals so far, but they've all been scored against Patrick Roy in separate games. He won't have a chance to go up against Roy in this one, nor will he face Roy's Colorado backup David Aebischer, who will be Kapanen's teammate in the West goal.

Rookies Barret Jackman of St. Louis and Jordan Leopold of Calgary will be joined on the West defense by Rostislav Klesla of Columbus, Nick Schultz of Minnesota, and Ossi Vaananen of Phoenix.

Ottawa assistants Hall of Famer Roger Neilson, Perry Pearn and Don Jackson will coach the East team. Vancouver assistants Jack McIlhargey and Mike Johnston will lead the West.

The staffs for teams leading the East and West on Jan. 8 were chosen to coach both the regular All-Star Game and the YoungStars Game. Players were selected by the NHL's hockey operations department in consultation with general managers.