ATLANTA — Sidney Crosby is absent, as are Dany Heatley, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur.

The star power of the NHL All-Star game has dimmed because of injuries and other withdrawals, but Atlanta is pressing on with the festivities. Three years after the lockout took the midseason party away from the Deep South, Georgia is ready to put on a show.

"The city has all the banners hung now throughout downtown," said Don Waddell, coach and general manager of the hometown Thrashers. "It's a great event for us to be able to host and we want to make sure we showcase not only our franchise and Philips Arena, but the city of Atlanta."

The magnitude of this weekend's events, featuring the YoungStars and skills competition Saturday and the All-Star game Sunday, took a major hit when Crosby injured an ankle that forced him to skip the event.

Sure the Pittsburgh Penguins will be feeling the loss of their captain well beyond this weekend, but his pain stretches quite a bit further than the Steel City. At 20, Crosby already is the face of the NHL, especially since he quickly lived up to the hype by winning the league scoring title and the MVP award last season — his second in the NHL.

"It's unfortunate, but he is injured. What do you want the guy to do? Go out there?" said Rangers forward Scott Gomez, heading to his second All-Star game eight years after the first. "There are still some great guys that are going to be there."

If Crosby's injury wasn't bad enough, Heatley's will be arguably as disappointing to Thrashers fans looking forward to seeing their former star who was traded to Ottawa after the lockout in 2005. Heatley spent three seasons in Atlanta, winning the rookie of the year award in 2002 and capturing All-Star MVP honors while representing the Thrashers the next year.

Instead of reuniting with former Atlanta linemate Ilya Kovalchuk, Heatley will be recovering from a serious shoulder injury.

"All the great players in the game are there, except for a few injured guys, so you can showcase your talent," Waddell, the GM of the Thrashers since they began play in 1999, said of Kovalchuk. "I know Ilya will be fired up about playing in the game, not only the All-Star game itself but it being in Atlanta.

"We were supposed to have it in '04-'05 when the season got canceled, so we were looking forward to this day. It's an important event."

If Atlanta hosted when it was supposed to, it wouldn't have had Crosby there anyway since he was still playing in juniors. Heatley would've been with the Thrashers.

Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey's Brodeur were elected to be the starting goalies in this Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference matchup, but both were excused for family reasons. Luongo will be spending the break in Florida with his pregnant wife, due to give birth in April. Brodeur will be tending to an obligation that recently arose.

Along with Crosby and Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg, four of the 12 players voted by fans to start the game will be missing. Eight players overall have pulled out.

Not exactly what cable television network Versus, which will be broadcasting the game for a second straight year, was looking for.

"You feel bad for some of the guys that get hurt and can't be there but there's still so many great stars in our league," Waddell said.

There is quite a new feel to this year's game, being staged for a second straight season after a three-year gap created by the lockout and the Olympic break in 2006. The event returned to the weekend after a one-year midweek tryout.

"I'm looking forward to it," Carolina Hurricanes forward Eric Staal said. "It should be a lot of fun. Just to be named among the best players in the league is quite an honor. I want to represent my team well since we have a lot of talented players here and I'm the one that's going."

Of the 42 players, 14 will be making their All-Star debuts and another 12 are back for a second appearance. Fresh young stars such as Alex Ovechkin of Washington and Crosby's teammate Evgeni Malkin will be getting their chance to showcase themselves on a grand stage.

"It creates excitement," Anaheim forward Ryan Getzlaf said. "It creates a little bit of a buzz, and it gives young players the opportunity to be involved in those things early in their careers and learn about them."

Maybe the newness and the weekend scheduling will help the NHL All-Star game find a niche on an otherwise slow sports landscape during the NFL's two-week break between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

"It's not often we've seen so many good young players coming up and really dominating and pushing everybody throughout the league," said Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, a five-time All-Star and first-time starter.