by The Florida Panthers will host the 2023 NHL All-Star Game on February 3 and 4 at the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.
The festivities kick off with the All-Star Skills competition at 7pm ET on Friday, followed by the All-Star Game at 3pm ET on Saturday. Both events will air on CBC, Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada, while ESPN and ABC will cover the weekend in the United States.
The skill competition will feature a unique South Florida twist, with the introduction of mini-games like Splash Shot and Pitch ‘n’ Puck to accompany classic All-Star events. We’ll have you covered with the latest results, highlights and analysis of what a fun Friday night should be.
All-Star Skills competition events
Spray shot
This unique event will take place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Four teams of two players will have to hit the targets in an attempt to crush their opponent in a tank of water. The team that manages to crush their opponents first wins in this knockout tournament.
Participants:
Sidney Crosby
Nathan MacKinnon
Mikko Rantanen
Cal Makar
Igor Shesterkin
Adam Fox
Brady Tkachuk
Matthew Tkachuk
Pitch ‘n’ Puck
The only sport NHL players can love more than hockey is golf, and Florida is the perfect setting. Six players will compete on a par 4 hole with an island green, using both pucks and balls to achieve the lowest score and be declared the winner of this brand new competition.
Participants:
Johnny Gaudreau
Clayton Keller
Jason Robertson
Nicholas Suzuki
Tent Tandem
Goaltenders will get more love in this year’s All-Star Skill competition with the introduction of the Tendy Tandem event. All eight All-Star goaltenders will compete in teams of two, with one taking part in shooting and the other in goal.
The shooter will take a shot from a designated spot on the ice and accumulate points based on where he places the puck in the net. Based on how well the shooting goaltender does, his net counterpart will face a number of skaters in a shootout. If the goalkeeper in the net makes a save, his team earns full points for that round. Play continues until each puck is shot and the tandem with the most points wins.
Don’t worry, we’re just as confused as you are about this event, so we’ll just have to wait and see how Friday plays out.
Participants:
Connor Hellebuyck
Juuse Saros
Igor Shesterkin
Stuart Skinner
Ilya Sorokin
Logan Thompson
Linus Ulmark
Andrey Vasilevsky
Shooters: Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse
The fastest skater
The fastest skater in the NHL will be crowned in two rounds with a full lap around the rink each time. A preliminary round will determine the two finalists. Jordan Kyrou won last year’s event with a time of 13.55 seconds, while Connor McDavid is tied with Mike Gartner for the most wins in the event.
Participants:
Dylan Larkin
Kirill Kaprizov
Cal Makar
Chandler Stephenson
Andrei Svechnikov
Hardest shot
Each participant will have two attempts to record the hardest possible shot from 30 feet away from the net. Victor Hedman won last year’s event with a 103.2 mph slapper, while Zdeno Chara holds the all-time record with a 108.8 mph rocket in 2012.
Participants:
Rasmus Dalin
Seth Jones
Josh Morrissey
Alex Oveckin
Elias Pettersson
Escape challenge
Each contestant will receive one shot attempt to impress a panel of judges and earn a score out of 10. Normal NHL shooting rules do not apply, meaning skaters can start anywhere in the neutral zone and go anywhere in the offensive zone, even behind the net (here come Michigan). If there is a tie for the highest score, those contestants will have one more attempt to claim the crown. Alex Pietrangelo won the event last year with 64 points.
Participants:
Mitch Marner
Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby (collaboration)
David Pastrnak
Matthew Tkachuk
Celebrity goalkeeper: Roberto Luongo
Precision shooting
Participants will be tasked with hitting four Styrofoam targets placed in the corners of the net while catching passes from two players standing on either side of the goal, in the shortest time possible. In the semi-final and final, two goals will be placed next to each other on the goal line and the contestants will shoot at targets simultaneously, with the player hitting all targets first to be crowned champion.
Sebastian Aho won the 2022 event with a time of 10.937 seconds.
Participants:
Alexander Barkov
Leon Draisaitl
Kevin Hayes
Jack Hughes
Nazem Kadri
Nikita Kucherov
Connor McDavid
Brock Nelson
Artemi Panarin
Vladimir Tarasenko
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