Vegas Golden Knights: Main Takeaways from All-Star Skills Comp
That was quite fun, wasn’t it? Even though Vegas Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty was a bit of an afterthought, there was a lot to be pleased about on the opening night of the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game.
The lone representative of the Vegas Golden Knights in St. Louis, Pacioretty was a spectator for large chunks of the NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Friday.
Although the veteran would no doubt have wanted to participate, Pacioretty would have been entertained by what he saw out on the ice.
Because, while the Skills Competition can be a bit tedious at times, this year’s event had some new features that sparked some real interest and kept people engaged throughout the night.
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Adding the Elite Women’s 3-on-3 event proved to be a home run by the NHL (more on that later), while hockey purists like me loved seeing Shea Weber back in the Hardest Shot competition.
The plethora of the league’s bright young things also injected a fresh wave of personality into proceedings, and the NHL would no doubt have been pleased with how the first day of the All-Star Game unfolded.
Granted, there can be improvements but Friday was a breath of fresh air compared to what we have been used to in recent years, and there was plenty to get excited about.
It was the perfect way to start the festivities in St. Louis and, while we all wait for the main event later today, we had some takeaways from the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Enterprise Center.
Let’s delve in…
1. The King Returns
My favorite event in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition has always been the Hardest Shot, I’ll admit that now.
I mean, who doesn’t enjoy seeing players give it their absolute all to hammer the puck as hard as possible?!
And, for me, one of the best sights in all of hockey is whenever Shea Weber winds up to unleash one of his trademark one-timers.
The Montreal Canadiens defenseman has been a staple of the Hardest Shot competition and, after an absence, the veteran was back this year.
Praise the lord.
Weber’s mere presence made the event more entertaining and he didn’t disappoint.
Going up against defending champion John Carlson, Weber unleashed an absolute bomb and he won the event for the third time in his career after his shot came in at 106.5 miles per hour.
If I didn’t before, then I certainly adopted a newfound appreciation for all those bodies that have been on the receiving end of one of Weber’s bombs.
Rather them than me.
It was a triumphant return to the All-Star Game for Shea Weber and the Hardest Shot event is just that much better when Weber is involved.
2. New Speedster in Town
Let’s be honest from the outset, I think most of us were expecting Connor McDavid to breeze the Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater competition on Friday.
After all, the generational talent had won the event in each of the last three years, and the stage was set for the Edmonton Oilers star to reclaim his crown.
However, the field this year featured a host of young studs who can all boast an incredible amount of speed.
And, as it transpired, McDavid was beat out by another elite young star in New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal, who dominated this event.
Barzal put on an absolute clinic with a time of 13.175 seconds, while McDavid came a close second with a time of 13.215.
New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, who was appearing in his first All-Star Game, impressed too and came third with a superb time of 13.509, making this the most competitive Fastest Skater event for a while.
3. New Faces, No Problem
Much was made of some of the game’s heavyweights in the ilk of Alex Ovechkin and the Vegas Golden Knights’ very own Marc-Andre Fleury opting to sit out the festivities in St. Louis.
With Sidney Crosby also not in attendance this weekend, some worried that the lack of household names at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game would hurt the event.
However, fear not.
Because, at the end of the day, we live in a different NHL now where young studs rule the day and having a plethora of new faces actually sparked new interest into the festivities, in my opinion at least.
From the likes of Vancouver Canucks rookie Quinn Hughes and Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny taking part in the Fastest Skater event, to Tomas Hertl trolling fellow All-Star Game newcomer Jordan Binnington in hilarious fashion during the Bud Light NHL Save Streak, it was refreshing to see so many fresh faces on show.
After all, we all moan that the NHL doesn’t get enough national attention, and it is only good for the sport to see players get their due and a share of the spotlight.
So, although you can never get enough Crosby or Ovechkin, it was kinda cool to see the likes of Tyler Bertuzzi, Jonathan Huberdeau and Anthony Duclair get their moment on the big stage.
4. NHL Hits Home Run
As already mentioned, in order to spark some fresh interest in this year’s All-Star Game, the National Hockey League decided to introduce the Elite Women’s 3-on-3 event, presented by Adidas.
Presenting the best America has to offer against the best Canada has to offer, the 3-on-3 game allowed the likes of Hilary Knight, Amanda Kessel and Natalie Spooner to showcase their talents on the big stage.
And it was superb.
This was such a cool event to watch and both teams absolutely gave it their all, with Team Canada emerging as 2-1 victors thanks to goals from Rebecca Johnston and Melodie Daoust, while Knight replied for Team America.
The women’s game needs more attention so for the elite to get the chance to strut their stuff at the All-Star Game was just brilliant, and it was arguably the highlight of the entire night.
It was also pretty cool to see various members of both teams take part in the Skills Competition, and hopefully this 3-on-3 game becomes a staple of the All-Star Game going forward.
Credit to everyone who made this happen.
5. Wrinkles to be ironed out
One of the new events added to the 2020 NHL All-Star Game was the Gatorade NHL Shooting Stars, which also generated the most intrigue.
The premise being that select players stand on an elevated platform about 30 feet above the ice surface, before shooting seven pucks at a variety of targets on the ice with each target ranging in point values.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane won the event after beating out Ryan O’Reilly and Mitch Marner in a one-shot tiebreaker.
However, there seemed to be some confusion at points during the event and it didn’t translate as an easy watch on the TV.
Granted, this event certainly has potential but it was clear that some players didn’t quite know what they had to do at times.
There were some cool moments, of course, including Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk revealing a neat Yadier Molina Cardinals jersey, while Matthew’s famous dad, Keith even joined his sons Matthew and Brady, to take a shot which was pretty neat.
Next. Stage is set for Pacioretty in St. Louis. dark
But there are some wrinkles that need to be ironed out if the Shooting Stars event is to become a true staple of the NHL All-Star Game going forward.
There is potential there, but there’s also some work to be done.