/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66158780/1201550953.jpg.0.jpg)
Tonight at the media night, several players were asked about what events they were participating in for the All-Star Skills Competition on Saturday. They played very coy.
The most of a response anyone gave was Mark Giordano, who flat out said that he hoped that he was asked to participate in something slower than the fastest skater competition, like maybe the hardest shot competition. He gave his age as a caveat for the selection, and when you look at the line-ups for the event, maybe, just maybe, the league took him to heart.
Here are who we will see in the individual events tomorrow, as per the NHL. This may be subject to change as necessary.
Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater™
- Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
- Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
- Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
- Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
- Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
- Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
- Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
- Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
Age is certainly a factor, as all of these guys are old enough to’ve actually been my students (Quinn Hughes, especially, reminded me of the job that I am currently away from as he is EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD and participating in a NHL All-Star Game).
Bud Light NHL Save Streak™
You won’t believe this, but it’s the goalies:
- David Rittich, Calgary Flames
- Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks
- Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
- Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting™
- Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
- Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
- Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
- Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
- Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
- Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
- Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
- Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
The first Blue makes his appearance in the form of the captain (but not All-Star Captain), Alex Pietrangelo. Who wins this is anyone’s guess, because every participant is a hell of a shot.
Elite Women’s 3-on-3 presented by adidas™
Team Canada vs. Team USA - will they play nice? Probably not. That’s why that’s this is the best event for the evening.
American All-Stars (hometown):
- D Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.)
- F Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.)
- F Kendall Coyne Schofield (Palos Heights, Ill.)
- F Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.)
- F Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.)
- F Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho)
- F Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson (Grand Forks, N.D.)
- F Annie Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.)
- G Alex Rigsby Cavallini (Delafield, Wis.)
- D Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.)
Canadian All-Stars (hometown):
- F Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.)
- F Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, Que.)
- G Ann-Renée Desbiens (La Malbaie, Que.)
- D Renata Fast (Burlington, Ont.)
- D Laura Fortino (Hamilton, Ont.)
- F Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, Ont.)
- F Sarah Nurse (Hamilton, Ont.)
- F Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.)
- F Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont.)
- F Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S.)
Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot™
- Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
- Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
- Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
- John Carlson, Washington Capitals
Gatorade NHL Shooting Stars™
- Women’s Elite All-Star (CAN) — TBD
- Women’s Elite All-Star (USA) — TBD
- David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
- Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
- Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
- Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
- Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
- Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
- David Perron, St. Louis Blues
- Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
For this fancy version of disc-golf accuracy, my money is handily on David Perron, though Tyler Seguin is a close second. All of this is contingent on whoever the American and Canadian representatives women's representatives are. The ladies might not be in the fastest skater this year, but they could very well light the lamp in this skills comp event.
The 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition airs at 7:00 Central on NBC Sports Network; pre-game begins at 5:00 on the NHL Network.