Perhaps he should be. The St. Paul, Minn., native has quietly become the all-time NHL scoring leader among American-born players, with 1,112 points. That puts him ahead of better-known American-born stars like Neal Broten, Pat LaFontaine and Mike Modano.

"I've played a lot of years and it took a long time," Housley said of all the points he's amassed. "After I'm done playing I'll be able to look back and say, 'Hey, I accomplished something.'"

Housley, 35, honed his skills as a rink rat before turning pro in 1982 after starring at South St. Paul High School, where he and his brother, Larry, played for former Minnesota Golden Gophers coach Doug Woog.

"He and Larry used to go down to the rink all the time," Woog remembered. "You'd see them down there at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning. They would play and play."

Housley's career has wound from Buffalo to Winnipeg to St. Louis to Calgary to New Jersey to Washington and back to Calgary -- and will likely end with Hall of Fame enshrinement.

He was 18 when the Sabres took him with the sixth pick in the 1982 draft. He had scored 65 points in 22 games as a senior, then had 66 in 77 games as an NHL rookie.

He was in the All-Star Game a year later and made five consecutive appearances from 1989-1993. He said he was humbled and thrilled to be able to play in Sunday's game. Housley did not score, and the World team beat North America 9-4.

"It didn't really hit me until I was on the ice with all these great players," he said. "It's truly an honor to be here."

This season, Housley is Calgary's No. 2 scorer behind fellow All-Star Valeri Bure, a forward who has 28 goals and 24 assists for 52 points. Housley has eight goals, 29 assists and 37 points, playing in all 53 games. Among defensemen, he stands third in the league in power-play assists with 18, fifth in power-play points with 22 and fifth in scoring.

Housley calls himself a "St. Paul boy." So could he spend the twilight of his career with the expansion Minnesota Wild, which begins play this fall?

His contract in Calgary runs through the next two seasons, and the thought of returning home intrigues him.

But David Poile, former Washington general manager and now general manager of the Nashville Predators, nearly broke into laughter at the thought of any expansion team landing a player of Housley's caliber.

"To start with, expansion teams usually don't get that good of a player," he said.

"He can make a difference in any game at any time because he's got that great ability to take a defensive situation and turn it into an offensive situation," he added. "And he seems to be getting better with age."