2024 NHL All-Star Skills Competition roundup
The NHL's bid to make the 2024 All-Star Skills Competition more fun to watch arguably paid off Friday night thanks in part to Connor McDavid's theatrics (though we sorely missed another chaotic appearance from Michael Buble).
The Oilers captain took home the $1-million cash prize after amassing the most points in the revamped, winner-takes-all competition.
Here's how the final standings shook out:
Rank | Player | Team | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Connor McDavid | Oilers | 25.00 |
2 | Cale Makar | Avalanche | 20.00 |
3 | Auston Matthews | Maple Leafs | 18.00 |
4 | William Nylander | Maple Leafs | 16.00 |
5 | Mathew Barzal | Islanders | 13.50 |
6 | J.T. Miller | Canucks | 12.00 |
7 | Elias Pettersson | Canucks | 10.00 |
8 | Nathan MacKinnon | Avalanche | 7.00 |
9 | David Pastrnak | Bruins | 4.50 |
10 | Leon Draisaitl | Oilers | 4.50 |
11 | Quinn Hughes | Canucks | 4.00 |
12 | Nikita Kucherov | Lightning | 0.50 |
The league previously consulted McDavid for tips on how to improve the Skills Competition, and it ended up working out quite well for the superstar. He stole the show by winning four events.
"Obviously, he's the epitome of competitiveness on a daily basis, so I'm not surprised," Leon Draisaitl said of his teammate's victory, per The Associated Press.
Here, we run down all of the action below.
Round 1
To kick off the All-Star Skills Competition, all 12 skaters chose four of six events to participate in. The skaters with the top five scores in each event earned points.
McDavid goes turbo mode to win Fastest Skater π
McDavid got off to a strong start at the Skills Competition by claiming the Fastest Skater title. It was his fourth time winning this event after pulling off the three-peat from 2017-19.
Rank | Player | Time (seconds) | Total points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | McDavid | 13.408 | 5 |
2 | Barzal | 13.519 | 4 |
3 | Hughes | 14.088 | 3 |
4 | Makar | 14.089 | 2 |
5 | Nylander | 14.164 | 1 |
The Oilers superstar got his revenge on Mathew Barzal, who beat McDavid to take the crown in 2020. Cale Makar, meanwhile, redeemed himself after falling down during his lap at the 2023 All-Star Game. However, he narrowly missed out on reaching the podium thanks to a strong run from Quinn Hughes.
After a review, MacKinnon wins One-Timers π
There was some controversy at one of the Skills Competition's new events.
Participants had to shoot three one-timers from three shot positions, good for nine shots total. Different areas of the net had varying point values. Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard and Pittsburgh Penguins All-Star Sidney Crosby served as the passers for the challenge.
Rank | Player | One-Timer score | Total points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | MacKinnon | 23 | 5 |
T-2 | Pastrnak | 22 | 3.5 |
T-2 | Draisaitl | 22 | 3.5 |
4 | Pettersson | 20 | 2 |
T-5 | Kucherov | 18 | 0.5 |
T-5 | Miller | 18 | 0.5 |
7 | Barzal | 17 | 0 |
8 | Matthews | 15 | 0 |
It initially looked as though David Pastrnak won with a score of 24 points. However, Nathan MacKinnon took the title instead because one of Pastrnak's shots was rewarded one point rather than three after video review showed that it hit the crossbar.
Pettersson dishes to win Passing Challenge π€
Elias Pettersson showed off why he has 37 assists under his belt this season by winning the Passing Challenge.
Participants had 45 seconds to complete 11 passes directed at targets set up around the rink. Some of the targets had different assigned point values.
Rank | Player | Passing score | Total pointsΒ |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Pettersson | 25 | 5 |
2 | Makar | 23 | 4 |
3 | Barzal | 21 | 3 |
4 | Matthews | 19 | 2 |
5 | Nylander | 16 | 1 |
6 | Hughes | 15 | 0 |
7 | MacKinnon | 13 | 0 |
8 | Draisaitl | 12 | 0 |
9 | McDavid | 10 | 0 |
10 | Miller | 7 | 0 |
11 | Kucherov | 5 | 0 |
The Canucks star pulled off the victory by nailing a target worth three points with his last pass to beat Makar.
Nikita Kucherov didn't provide the most inspiring performance and was chirped by the Scotiabank Arena crowd, which became a running theme.
Makar hammers one to take Hardest Shot π₯
Makar claimed the Hardest Shot title after firing off a 102.56-mph bomb to dethrone Pettersson, the reigning champion.
Rank | Player | Speed (mph) | Total points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Makar | 102.56 | 5 |
2 | Miller | 102.34 | 4 |
3 | Pettersson | 98.40 | 3 |
4 | Matthews | 96.22 | 2 |
5 | Pastrnak | 95.27 | 1 |
A blue-liner has won this competition 14 out of 16 times dating back to 2003.
McDavid dazzles to win Stick-Handling Challenge π΅βπ«
McDavid dug deep into his bag of tricks for his second Skills Competition victory.
Participants had to skate through a series of obstacles and toe-drag around a barrier before taking a shot on goal. Once again, McDavid boasted the fastest time to beat Barzal.
Rank | Player | Time (seconds) | Total points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | McDavid | 25.755 | 5 |
2 | Barzal | 26.929 | 4 |
3 | Nylander | 27.272 | 3 |
4 | MacKinnon | 27.715 | 2 |
5 | Draisaitl | 28.677 | 1 |
6 | Hughes | 29.038 | 0 |
7 | Pettersson | 29.526 | 0 |
8 | Pastrnak | 38.488 | 0 |
9 | Kucherov | 44.178 | 0 |
Pastrnak also heard some jeers from the Toronto faithful for a) being a Boston Bruin and b) completely missing the net on his shot attempt.
McDavid snipes his way through Accuracy Shooting π―
Surprise surprise, McDavid won this event, too. He went four-for-four, knocking down his targets in less than 10 seconds. Auston Matthews gave him a run for his money, but the Toronto Maple Leafs sniper had to settle for second place.
Rank | Player | Time (seconds) | Total points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | McDavid | 9.158 | 5 |
2 | Matthews | 9.341 | 4 |
3 | Miller | 13.587 | 3 |
4 | Nylander | 14.099 | 2 |
5 | Hughes | 14.815 | 1 |
6 | MacKinnon | 15.958 | 0 |
7 | Kucherov | 16.460 | 0 |
8 | Makar | 19.069 | 0 |
9 | Pastrnak | 19.670 | 0 |
10 | Draisaitl | 46.089 | 0 |
McDavid put up a similarly astounding performance at last year's Accuracy Shooting event with a time of 9.497 seconds in the opening round, but he was eliminated by Nazem Kadri in the semifinal. This year's edition of the competition was only one round.
Round 2
Next, the top eight point-earners from the first round - McDavid, Makar, Barzal, Pettersson, Matthews, MacKinnon, J.T. Miller, and William Nylander - moved on to the seventh event.
Nylander thrills during 1-on-1 event π¨
Much to the joy of the hometown fans, Nylander won one of the night's more exciting events.
In the new shootout competition, skaters chose an All-Star goalie to take on one-on-one in a one-minute challenge. Goals were either worth one or two points based on where the play started.
Rank | Shooter | Goalie | 1-on-1 points | Total points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nylander | Cam Talbot | 9 | 5 |
2 | Matthews | Thatcher Demko | 7 | 4 |
T-3 | Miller | Jeremy Swayman | 6 | 2.5 |
T-3 | Barzal | Igor Shesterkin | 6 | 2.5 |
5 | Makar | Connor Hellebuyck | 4 | 1 |
6 | Pettersson | Jake Oettinger | 3 | 0 |
7 | McDavid | Alexandar Georgiev | 3 | 0 |
8 | MacKinnon | Sergei Bobrovsky | 2 | 0 |
Nylander's best goal came on a sickening Forsberg move.
Alexandar Georgiev made the most saves - against McDavid no less - and was awarded a $100,000 cash prize as a result.
Final
Pettersson and MacKinnon were eliminated in the second round, meaning McDavid, Barzal, Nylander, Matthews, Makar, and Miller were left to duke it out in the final where points were doubled.
McDavid ends his night on the Obstacle Course π
McDavid capped off his iconic performance by earning his fourth victory of the night on the Obstacle Course. He had some shaky moments but held on to win the competition.
Rank | Player | Time (seconds) | Total points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | McDavid | 40.606 | 10 |
2 | Makar | 43.435 | 8 |
3 | Matthews | 47.271 | 6 |
4 | Nylander | 49.065 | 4 |
5 | Miller | 49.351 | 2 |
6 | Barzal | 76.850 | 0 |
The course involved bridges that players had to guide the puck through, as well as a group of mini nets designed to test their accuracy.
The puck will drop on the All-Star Game on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.