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2024 NHL All-Star Skills Competition roundup

Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty

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 πŸƒ

Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty

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 πŸ˜…

Claus Andersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

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 🀝

Mark Blinch / National Hockey League / Getty

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 πŸ’₯

Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty

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 πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’«

Claus Andersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

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 🎯

Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty

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 🚨

Andre Ringuette / National Hockey League / Getty

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 πŸ†

Mark Blinch / National Hockey League / Getty

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.

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