Seeing as the skills competition is kicking off in a little bit, I thought it might be fun to put together a live blog where we can chat about what’s going on, who’s winning which event, and offer our thoughts and takes on anything else that’s going on.

I don’t know about you folks, but I used to absolutely love the skills competition when I was growing up and since there are no Oilers games to talk about for a little while, I figured I’d get a post up on the site and hang out with all of you while the show is going on. This way, we can all celebrate together when McDavid wins the fastest skater and Draisaitl wins the accuracy competition, flexing their superior skills for the entire hockey world to enjoy. Not only do I think both guys will win their respective events, but I’d also expect that both of them put their competition to shame and humble them in a way that only Connor and Leon can. I know this is supposed to be a fun little weekend and all, but at this point in the season, after the stretch we just went through, I’ll take every win I can get and that means banking on our big boys to get the job done. I believe!

The NHL All-Star skills competition will get going tonight at 5:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet and the All-Star Game will happen tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET on CBC. And since the all-star weekend is happening in Vegas, both events will be held at T-Mobile Arena.

In case you missed it, the skills competition this year will feature seven events that showcase an array of skills and give the league something fun to talk about for once.

Outside of the standards we’re all used to like the hardest shot and fastest skater, the NHL is bringing in a couple of new events — Fountain Faceoff and NHL 21 in ’22 — and I’m actually pretty excited to see how these go. I’ve been lucky enough to go to a couple of Oilers games in Vegas over the last few years, and they always put on an amazing show so I’m expecting nothing but the best for tonight’s festivities.

If anything happens during the skills competition that’s worth talking about then I’ll drop it in here along with some highlights or clips that come up on social media.