GDT: NHL All-Star Skills Competition - Jan 25th - 9PM ET

[Kamiccolo]

i wonder if bergeron asked for jake gardiner to give him passes in the accuracy shooting drill?

Pretty weak TBH. Would be funnier if Jake was playing.

 

[DatsMagic]

Those Jerseys are awful

What a terrible decision

No they aren't. They are 10x better than those ridiculous neon colored ones they've had the last few years.

 

[SnizzMitch]

They always overthink the all star jerseys.

It’s literally just black/white with the logo of the team, how the f*** is that overthinking?

 

[ijuka]

I hope Heiskanen gets to show off his wheels tonight. He's gotta be up there for fastest defenseman/skater in the league.

Wouldn't even be surprised if he won the whole thing.

 

[Elias GOATtersson]

As long as everyone here knows that I’m not watching it and think it’s stupid, I can feel good about watching it.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

It’s interesting to see so many people say they’ll watch the skills but not the game, because I was able to attend both last year and the skills was a chore to sit through in person. As a tv event, I think I agree with all of those stating it here but in person there was so much dead time compared to action time it became tedious. Reminded me of the only NFL game I’ve attended, so much time where nothing is happening.

 

[Sheppy]

Correct me if i'm wrong but the AS game was typically on Sunday, no? I guess that means I can start drinking early tomorrow.

 

[Christien]

2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills competitors set

Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater™
Participants:
Cam Atkinson, Columbus Blue Jackets
Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Kendall Coyne, U.S. Women's National Team
Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars
Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
Gatorade NHL Puck Control™
Participants:
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
Jeff Skinner, Buffalo Sabres
John Tavares, Toronto Maple Leafs
Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak™
Participants:
Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Wild
Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Enterprise NHL Premier Passer™
Participants:
Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
Thomas Chabot, Ottawa Senators
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
Ryan O'Reilly, St. Louis Blues
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche
Keith Yandle, Florida Panthers
SAP NHL Hardest Shot™
Participants:
Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
John Carlson, Washington Capitals
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting™
Participants:
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Kyle Palmieri, New Jersey Devils
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks
Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets

 

[Taak19]

Looks like no MacK.

 

[Simpo]

No Pettersson 100mph slapper

 

[Tofveve]

I'm a sucker for the skills comp. Love it.

My faves in order: hardest shot, most accurate shot, puck control, fastest skater, passer, goalie saves on a row or whatever it is (feels the most gimicky).

Hardest shooter looks a bit weak this year. The rest look good though.


McDavid wins fastest skater. The rest are tossups. I hope Johnny and Auston win their events.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

why is Wheeler not in the passing challenge? He has 9 goals, 52 assists

 

[VictorLustig]

Not sure why they would put Pettersson in the fastest skater competition.

 

[Saitama]

why is Wheeler not in the passing challenge? He has 9 goals, 52 assists

Seriously, what a head-scratcher....

 

[talkinaway]

I really wish they would do a real skills competition. Each team hold a skills event and then their best go onto face the the best of other teams. I would enjoy this much more than the current format and ASG.

I love this idea in theory, but the logistics just don't work. If Matt Grzelcyk on the Bruins won a Bruins skills event (which he might - I randomly picked him because I always see him doing cool tricks with the puck in warmups), would ANYONE in the other 30 NHL markets be interested? Or would they mostly go, "Who's that?" You'd either have two separate rosters, and thus it would cost the NHL twice as much in terms of airfare, food, and lodging....or you have one roster of players who are kinda-sorta All-Stars.

I guess you could restrict the competition part to just 3-4 players per team...but even then, some teams aren't deep. And Goalie/Defenseman/Forward mix? Even if you go back to East/West (which would be a mistake), this wouldn't be practical.

Admittedly, it would be a cool little add-on to a game. Imagine a 1 PM Saturday matinee, and then at 4:30 or 5 or whenever, the players come back on the ice to compete for an ASG spot. But there aren't enough Saturday matinees, and who's going to want to do this after a 7:30 PM weekday start, when the game's over at 10:15 or 10:30, and you don't really have good ice until 11 PM?

All Star Game is so boring every year. would be awesome if the game had meaning, like East vs West. whoever wins gets Home Ice Advantage in the Stanley Cup Final.

Nope. Didn't mean anything in the MLB, would matter even less in the NHL.

* Home ice advantage will ultimately only depend matter to two teams out of 31 (or 32 soon).
* Home ice advantage is MUCH slimmer than home field advantage (this is a gutfeel opinion, but the stats HAVE to sway that way)
* Even considering that it MIGHT matter, it only matters if:
* The team that wins in the league standings is in the losing ASG conference (happens on average 1/2 the time)
* The seventh game is necessary in the SCF (happens about 32% of the time if you assume it's a coinflip - and admittedly this assumes you ignore effects like having an advantage starting on home ice, or having 'momentum')

The whole "this time, it counts" promotion for the MLB ASG was lame, and I don't think it would work better for the NHL.

 

[JerseyMike34]

2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills competitors set

Can I get more insight into why Kendal Coyne is involved in this? Something to do with the NHL/CWHL partnership?

 

[Sheppy]

Over/Under 101.5 being hardest shot.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Not sure why they would put Pettersson in the fastest skater competition.

I'd like to see him in the hardest shot competition instead. Is my memory bad or is there usually way more than 4 players in the hardest shot competition?

 

[JerseyMike34]

Over/Under 101.5 being hardest shot.

Over.

With the new crazy sticks the players use, I'd be surprised to see a winner under 100 ever again.
It's only been under 101.5 twice in the last 10 years.
NHL All-Star Skills Competition - Wikipedia

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I'd like to see him in the hardest shot competition instead. Is my memory bad or is there usually way more than 4 players in the hardest shot competition?

last year there were 5, the year before that they had 8

 

[Sheppy]

Over.

With the new crazy sticks the players use, I'd be surprised to see a winner under 100 ever again.
It's only been under 101.5 twice in the last 10 years.
NHL All-Star Skills Competition - Wikipedia

It has, but look who shot over 101.5...

 

[JerseyMike34]

It has, but look who shot over 101.5...

No need to shit on Adrian Aucoin....

No, I get your point, but they keep tweaking these magic wands the players use these days, soon 110 will be the norm. I can see why the goalies want to wear armor between the pipes.

 

[Grantham]

Annoying about Pettersson in fastest skater. Virtanen was the fastest in our team skills, and Elias had the hardest shot at 99

Hope that knee is healed Elias!

 

[Syckle78]

Can I get more insight into why Kendal Coyne is involved in this? Something to do with the NHL/CWHL partnership?

Yea what's up with that? Is this the first time there's been a woman participant? I haven't followed this in years.

 

[SniperHF]

2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills competitors set

I think Keller would have done better in passing or puck handling. He's plenty fast but not what I think of as a pure speed demon. Guess we'll find out.