The 2019 NHL All-Star Game Skills Competition takes place on Friday, Jan. 25. Although we don’t know who the participants will be just yet, we’ve got a fairly decent idea. More importantly, we know who won the events last year.
Check out a recap of 2018 along with some words on who takes each event on Friday night. And be sure to check out NHL odds before the event starts.
2019 NHL All-Star Game Skills Competition
Do you know who scored the first-ever #NHLAllStar goal?@Dave_Stubbs presents a look back on the great moments in @NHL All-Star history! pic.twitter.com/9k5oHryhns
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) January 24, 2019
- When: Friday, Jan. 25 at 9:00 pm ET
- Where: SAP Center, San Jose, CA
- TV: NBC Sports Net
6 Events to Find Out Which NHL Players Have the Top Skills
NHL Fastest Skater
The past couple of seasons, Connor McDavid’s owned this event. He won it in 2017 when skating 13.172. Last season, he skated 13.454 and won. This season, he’ll definitely be the chalk because he only faces one player from 2018 on Friday, Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel.
Eichel skated a 13.828 in 2018. He could turn the tables on McDavid. A player that could also challenge Connor this year is the New York Islanders Mathew Barzal. He’s very fast in his skates.
NHL Premier Passer
Only Nikita Kucherov returns to this event from last season. We’re not even sure if Kucherov will participate. That makes the NHL Premier Passer skills challenge a wide-open affair. What exactly is it? First, participants have 10 pucks to complete passes to 3 targets. They must then complete targets over barricades into mini-nets, and then they must complete passes to targets that light up every 3 seconds. Sounds ridiculously difficult to accomplish.
We can’t even begin to guess on this one. Go with your gut once odds are set because no participant should offer underlay odds.
NHL Save Streak
Vegas Golden Knights player Marc-Andre Fleury, who leads the NHL with 27 saves, won this competition last season. Fleury will be the chalk. But, depending on who participates, his championship status could be in doubt come Friday night.
Nashville’s Pekka Rinne is awesome. So is Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy. Heck, goalies like Jimmy Howard are fantastic because they’ve made saves for bad teams. One word of advice? Take a shot against Fleury unless he offers overlay odds.
NHL Pass Control
Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau returns to this competition to defend his title. Gaudreau beat John Tavares by 4 seconds. Gaudreau left the ice by going through the three phases of puck control, including a gate portion, in 24.65 seconds.
Many of the same participants, Tavares, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Patrick Kane could participate in this event again. They won’t make up any ground on Gaudreau. This is one time to go chalky.
NHL Hardest Shot
The great Alexander Ovechkin won this event in 2018 with a 98.8 mile per hour slammer. The fans made Ovechkin the Metropolitan captain, but he withdrew from the event. He won’t participate on Friday night.
That leaves it up to Steven Stamkos to win or lose. The Lightning player blasted a 95.2 mile per hour puck last season in this event. Stamkos could win it, but going against the chalk makes sense. This is another go with the gut event.
NHL Accuracy Shooting
Brock Boesner won this event last year. He’s not back this year. Most believe Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson or Toronto’s Auston Matthews gets it done on Friday night. There’s also a good chance Sidney Crosby, the perennial Pittsburgh Penguin all-star, finally takes this event.
No matter who you like, make sure to keep checking the MyBookie site for odds on all NHL Skills Competition Events. Get your NHL All-Star Weekend started on Friday night and then carry it over into Saturday’s NHL All-Star Game!
