Moments after Connor McDavid won the fastest skater contest to kick off the skills competition, Leon Draisaitl followed it up with a saucy win of his own in the passing contest. 

Frankly, I don’t know how anyone was doing this passing contest because it was ridiculous. Aside from the first portion of the course where the player had to round the net and make an outlet pass, none of the other sections of the course were things that they would normally practice. That middle part with saucer passes the tiny nets? Ridiculous. After watching two or three guys really struggle, I was nervous to see how Leon would do when he finally got his turn, but he quickly dashed those fears with a superior passing performance.

If there is one thing we know about Leon Draisaitl it’s that the guy can dish the puck with the best of them and that skill was on full display tonight. From start to finish, he looked confident with his passes, moved quickly, and wasted no time in trying again when he missed. After making it through the saucer pass portion with relative ease, Leon finished up his winning run by confidently ripping passes at the light-up passing pad things and finishing the course in only 1:09. Draisaitl may have told Scott Oake that he was nervous in the interview that followed his win, but it certainly didn’t show because he was great in this event.

With both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl winning their respective skills contests, I wonder if Bob Nicholson text either of them, asking that they bring home as much of San Jose’s water as they can fit in their bags? I keed, I keed.