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NHL All-Star Day 1 & 2: Fantasy Draft and Skills Competition

Fantasy Draft

The Fantasy Draft was a fun hour-and-a-half. There was a bit of trash talk going on. The teams traded Tyler Seguin for Phil Kessel, which I found hilarious. Fashion was a theme of the night. Apparently Seguin and Steven Stamkos wore the same really flashy shoes to the event, and it was an interview subject during the night. Carey Price quipped "Is the NHL Network or E!?". Fashion was a subject when Dustin Byfuglien was selected, with Buff being asked about the skates he'd be wearing for the All-Star Game, coloured with neon green to match the jerseys. Mention was made of Oliver Ekman-Larsson's men's fashion line as he went out onto the stage following his selection. The whole time, Alex Ovechkin wouldn't shut up about how he wanted to be picked last so he could win the free car. He ended up going third-to-last, only for the last two picks, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, to be added to the teams by a fan vote and both of them win free cars as the last picks.

The final rosters for the two All-Star teams, as well as any important notes, are below. I am merely guessing the numbers players are using.

Team Jonathan Toews

No.19 – C-Jonathan Toews (Chicago) – Captain
No.15 – C-Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim) – Alternate Captain
No.61 – L-Rick Nash (New York R.) – Alternate Captain
No.29 – C-Tyler Seguin (Dallas) – acquired from Team Foligno for Phil Kessel
No.93 – R-Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia)
No.92 – C-John Tavares (New York I.)
No.90 – R-Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis)
No.37 – C-Patrice Bergeron (Boston)
No.26 – C-Patrik Elias (New Jersey)
No.09 – C-Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay)
No.08 – C-Filip Forsberg (Nashville) – Rookie
No.13 – L-Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary) – Rookie
No.06 – D-Shea Weber (Nashville)
No.07 – D-Brent Seabrook (Chicago)
No.55 – D-Aaron Ekblad (Florida)
No.20 – D-Ryan Suter (Minnesota)
No.05 – D-Mark Giordano (Calgary)
No.27 – D-Justin Faulk (Carolina)
No.50 – G-Corey Crawford (Chicago)
No.01 – G-Roberto Luongo (Florida)
No.41 – G-Jaroslav Halak (New York I.)
No.68 – L-Mike Hoffman (Ottawa) – Rookie
Coach – Peter Laviolette (Nashville)

Team Nick Foligno

No.71 – L-Nick Foligno (Columbus) – Captain
No.88 – R-Patrick Kane (Chicago) – Alternate Captain
No.19 – C-Ryan Johansen (Columbus)
No.11 – C-Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles)
No.91 – C-Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay)
No.81 – R-Phil Kessel (Toronto) – acquired from Team Toews for Tyler Seguin
No.28 – C-Claude Giroux (Philadelphia)
No.06 – R-Bobby Ryan (Ottawa)
No.17 – R-Radim Vrbata (Vancouver)
No.82 – C-Zemgus Girgensons (Buffalo)
No.08 – L-Alex Ovechkin (Washington)
No.93 – C-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton)
No.08 – D-Drew Doughty (Los Angeles) – Alternate Captain
No.02 – D-Duncan Keith (Chicago)
No.33 – D-Dustin Byfuglien (Winnipeg)
No.89 – D-Brent Burns (San Jose)
No.22 – D-Kevin Shattenkirk (St. Louis)
No.23 – D-Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona)
No.31 – G-Carey Price (Montreal)
No.29 – G-Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh)
No.01 – G-Brian Elliott (St. Louis)
No.27 – L-Jonathan Drouin (Tampa Bay) – Rookie
No.26 – L-Jiri Sekac (Montreal) – Rookie
Coach – Darryl Sutter (Los Angeles)
Injuries

No.35 – G-Jimmy Howard (Detroit) – replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury
No.35 – G-Pekka Rinne (Nashville) – replaced by Jaroslav Halak
No.72 – G-Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus) – replaced by Brian Elliott
No.71 – C-Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh) – replaced by Filip Forsberg
No.87 – C-Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh) – replaced by Johnny Gaudreau
No.06 – D-Erik Johnson (Colorado) – replaced by Aaron Ekblad
No.70 – L-Tanner Pearson (Los Angeles) – rookie – replaced by Jiri Sekac

In the last All-Star Game, there were six rookies per side. This year there were only six rookies altogether, and injuries forced three rookies, Filip Forsberg, Aaron Ekblad, and Johnny Gaudreau.upgraded to full All-Stars as injury replacements.

SuperSkills Competition

The SuperSkills Competition is tonight. The All-Stars will compete in a variety of challenges designed to highlight their various skills. The format is as follows.

Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater

Each team has four skaters. A skater from one team pairs off with a player from the other for a heat. For each heat, the players start at a blueline and skate to the nearest end zone, turn outward, skate to the other end zone, turn around and skate past centre ice. Times are determined by timing devices, and in case of clock malfunction, the referees’ watches are used instead. In case of a tie, the two skaters both earn a point. If there’s a tie for fastest overall, then the tied skaters race for the bonus point, presumably racing again if they tie. The winner of each heat, as well as the fastest skater overall, earn a point, with five points total. In the last All-Star Game, each team had a backwards skating player, a rookie skater, and a skating goaltender in addition to two regular skaters, and the fastest skater from each team would race for the bonus point, regardless of whether there was a tie.

Honda NHL Breakaway Challenge

Each team has three shooters, a la the regular season tie-breaking shootout. Players attempt a shootout, alternating between teams, using a variety of props, costumes, and maneuvers as they make their attempt, purely for entertainment. Players get three attempts, and players alternate. Audience members, both at home and in-arena, vote for their favourite routine via Twitter, and the winner earns his team the sole available point. In the last All-Star Game, one participant from each team would be a rookie.

DraftKings NHL Accuracy Shooting

Each team names four shooters and two passers. A shooter from each team goes up against a shooter from the other, and the shooters make their attempts in a rotation. The objective is to destroy targets at the four corners of the net as fast as possible. The fastest shooter in each matchup earns his team a point, as well as the fastest shooter overall. As with the Fastest Skater challenge, if there’s a tie, the two tied shooters each earn a point. If there’s a tie for fastest overall, the two tied players go again for the bonus point, presumably making additional attempts if they remain tied. In the last All-Star Game, teams had four passers, rather than two. In the last All-Star Game, one shooter from each team would be one of their rookies, each team had a rotation of four passers instead of two, and the fastest shooter from each team would face off for a bonus point.

Gatorade NHL Skills Challenge Relay

Each team splits into two sub-teams for two relay heats. Each heat consists of one-timer shooting, accuracy passing, a puck control relay, stickhandling, and goalie goals. For one-timers, each team has three shooters, and each shooter, taking a pass from an additional player, has to score two one-timer goals. For accuracy passing, a designated passer must pass the puck into four tiny nets of varying distances. For the puck control relay, a skater must control a puck while skating through a series of cones. For stickhandling, a player must move a puck through a cluster of additional pucks. And for goalie goals, each team names one goaltender to score two goals. Each skill must completed before the team attempting can move onto the next one. One group from each team must have left-handed shooters for the one-timer portion, and the other group has to have right-handed shooters. It’s a time event, and the fastest group from each heat wins their team a point, and the fastest group overall earns an additional one. If there’s a tie, both teams earn a point. Due to the scope of this event, if the tied heat ends up also being the fastest, both teams earn the bonus point. In the last All-Star Game, there was an accuracy shooting component instead of goalie goals.

AMP NHL Hardest Shot

Each team picks four shooters. A shooter from one team pairs off against a shooter from the other team. Each shooter gets two attempts, starting no further than the blueline closest to the net and shooting a puck from 30 feet from the centre of the goal. If a player breaks his stick of the speed radar malfunctions, the attempt doesn’t count and the player gets another. In each matchup, the fastest shot, measured in miles per hour, earns the shooter a point, and a bonus point is awarded to the team with the fastest shot overall. If a matchup ends in a tie, both shooters earn a point. If there’s a tie for fastest overall, the shooters compete in a matchup for the bonus point. In the last All-Star Game, one shooter from each team would be one of their rookies, and the fastest skater from each team would face off for a bonus point.

Discover NHL Shootout

Each team uses 21 skaters in a large shootout. The competition consists of three rounds, each round being two minutes. Each team is divided into three groups of seven shooters, each group shooting against one of the opposing team’s three goaltenders. The team with the fewest Skills Competition points going in goes first, otherwise its the home team (in this case, Team Foligno). Shooters alternate from one team to the other, and each shooter is allotted ten seconds. The rotation continues for the duration of the round. Each goal is worth a single point, unless it’s scored with a Discover Card puck, in which case its worth two. Every third puck is a Discover Card puck. The challenge follows the standard NHL shootout rules. Once a round is over, the next groups of seven shooters for each team goes out and the goalies are substituted out. The points are totalled at the end and added to each team’s total. In the last All-Star Game, the event was an Elimination Shootout, where the goalie subbed out every four shots, and every shooter to score moved onto the next round, the competition continuing until a round passed without any scorers.

Team captains will determine who participates in what event and in what capacity. In the event of a tie, the captains participate in a shootout. Each captain picks one of his goaltenders to face the other captain. The winner earns his team an additional point.
The Honda NHL SuperSkills Competition is at 6:00 PM Central Time on CBC in Canada, NBCSN in the United States.
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