McDavid and Draisaitl in the accuracy contest, Skinner in the ‘Tendy Tandem’ at the 2023 skills competition
By baggedmilk
1 year agoThis afternoon, the NHL let us know who would be doing what at the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills Competition that will be happening on Friday evening down in Florida.
This year’s contest will feature three new events: the Enterprise NHL Splash Shot, the Discover NHL Tendy Tandem, and the Chipotle Pitch ‘n Puck. What are these new events? I thought you’d never ask. First up, the splash shot event puts participants on the beach to fire at targets that will get their opponents wet if hit properly. Think of a hockey version of a dunk tank, at least, that’s my guess.
Next up, we’ve got the Tendy Tandem. According to the post by the NHL to describe the event, “the shooting goalies will earn points based on the accuracy of their shots at the net, and the in-net goalies will face rushes of three, two or one player(s), based on the number of points earned by the shooting goalie in their tandem.” I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I do absolutely love getting the goalies more involved in the action.
The third new event is the Pitch ‘n Puck challenge, which will have players shoot some kind of golf/hockey shots, with the winner being the one with the lowest overall score. If there’s one thing that NHL players do a lot of when they’re not playing hockey it’s golfing and I’ll be eager to see how this one plays out.
As for the annual events, everything else will basically be the same apart from Connor McDavid opting out of the fastest skater for his first foray into the accuracy shooting competition. Both he and Leon will compete in the event, and based on the way both guys have been filling the net this year, I’m thinking either of them has a reasonable chance to win.
Below you will find all of the events that will be included in the competition, and who will be participating in each event.
Accuracy Shooting
- Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
- Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
- Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
- Kevin Hayes, Philadelphia Flyers
- Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
- Nazem Kadri, Calgary Flames
- Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
- Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
- Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues
Fastest Skater
- Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
- Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
- Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
- Chandler Stephenson, Vegas Golden Knights
- Andrei Svechnikov, Carolina Hurricanes
Breakaway Challenge
- Mitchell Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins (together)
- David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
- Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
Celebrity goaltender: Roberto Luongo
Hardest Shot
- Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
- Seth Jones, Chicago Blackhawks
- Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets
- Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
- Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
Tendy Tandem
- Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
- Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
- Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
- Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
- Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
- Logan Thompson, Vegas Golden Knights
- Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Shooters: Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse
Splash Shot
- Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
- Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche
- Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
- Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
- Adam Fox, New York Rangers
- Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
- Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
Pitch ‘n Puck
- Johnny Gaudreau, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes
- Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
- Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens
Interested in watching the boys do their thing? Of course you are. Just be sure to set a reminder that the skills competition will be happening on Friday, February 3rd at 5:00 PM MT on Sportsnet. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Recent articles from baggedmilk
