NHL All-Star Skills Competition Participants, Format, How to Watch

Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Before the NHL All Star Game takes place on Saturday afternoon, there will be an NHL All Star Skills Competition on Friday night. You can catch that at 7 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN plus. Read on to learn more about the participants and the events. Alex Ovechkin will be representing the Washington Capitals in the Hardest Shot and the Breakaway Challenge.

The NHL All Star Skills Competition will include three new events. Two of them, the Enterprise NHL Splash Shot and Chipotle NHL Pitch n Puck, will feature players displaying their skills in outdoor environments that typify Florida. There’s also an innovated goaltending skills test called the NHL Tendy Tandem.

The Enterprise NHL Splash Shot will be on the beach of Fort Lauderdale and feature eight players divided into four teams of two. Players are required to hit to hit all the targets before attempting to dunk their opponents, the winner being the one to dunk his or her opponents first.

The Chipotle NHL Pitch n Puck will have players combine their hockey and golf skills on a par four golf hole featuring an island green. Six players will participate, the winner being the one who successfully sinks the puck/ball in the hole with the fewest shots using a combination of hockey and golf shots. If there’s a tie, the longest drive determines the winner.

In the Discover NHL Tendy Tandem, eight goalies will work in tandems, one shooting and the other in net (Central vs. Pacific and Atlantic vs. Metro divisions). The shooting goalie from a division will take a shot from a designated mark and will be awarded three points if the shot goes in the hole, two if it hits the in net target, and zero if it misses the net.

The competition will also feature the Upper Deck NHL Fastest Skater, GEICO NHL Hardest Shot, Great Clips NHL Breakaway Challenge, and Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting. The winner of each event will earn $30,000.

Here is the complete list of participants for each event:

Upper Deck NHL Fastest Skater: Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings), Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild), Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche), Chandler Stephenson (Vegas Golden Knights), Andrei Svechnikov (Carolina Hurricanes)

Great Clips NHL Breakaway Challenge: Roberto Luongo (Celebrity goaltender), Mitchell Marner (Toronto Maple Leafs), Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals) teaming up with Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers)

Discover NHL Tendy Tandem: Shooters- Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse. 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)

Enterprise NHL 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)

Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting: Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers), Kevin Hayes (Philadelphia Flyers), Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils), Nazem Kadri (Calgary Flames), Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Brock Nelson (New York Islanders), Artemi Panarin (New York Rangers), Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues)

Chipotle NHL Pitch n Puck: Johnny Gaudreau (Columbus Blue Jackets), Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes), Jason Robertson (Dallas Stars), Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens)

Related Story. Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime goal powers Capitals past Blue Jackets. light

GEICO NHL Hardest Shot: Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres), Seth Jones (Chicago Blackhawks), Jack Morrissey (Winnipeg Jets), Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks).