The NHL All-Star weekend is just around the corner and this time it is set to take place on Feb. 3 and 4 in South Florida. Feb. 3 will feature the skills competition while Feb. 4 will see the return of the four-team three-on-three style tournament.
Although there may not be as much excitement surrounding the NHL All-Star weekend as in previous years, that has not been due to a lack of effort from the NHL. This year saw a new voting system put into place where fans were able to vote for any two skaters and one goalie from each division that they wanted to see at the All-Star game—on top of the already selected one player from each team by league staff.
The last time fans were able to vote for any player in the league was back in 2016 when all fans from across the league came together and voted Arizona Coyotes goon John Scott captain of the Pacific division All-Star team. This year, no one “un-deserving” was voted in by the fans.
The Feb. 3 All-Star competition will feature many of the same events from previous All-Star weekends, such as the fastest skater, hardest shot, accuracy shooting and the breakaway challenge, which returned last year. This year it will highlight former Canadian goaltender and Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo, who used to play for the Florida Panthers. He will take the ice to face some shots from today’s greatest to see how many in a row he can stop, if any at all.
Similar to last year, the competition will feature a couple of Florida-specific competitions: The NHL pitch and puck on a golf course, the NHL Splash shot on the beach and the NHL Tendy Tandem.
The NHL pitch and puck on a golf course will be a combination of golf and hockey shots on a par 4 hole. Whichever player can complete the hole in the least amount of shots will win the competition.
The NHL Splash shot will take place on a beach but has yet to be announced what the actual competition will be.
The NHL Tendy Tandem will be a competition that will feature two goalies competing at the same time; one shooting pucks at a hole/target and one goalie stopping as many shots as possible in the timeframe announced later by the NHL.
Feb. 4 will feature three three-on-three style hockey games, each containing two ten-minute halves. The semi-finals will feature the two Eastern Conference divisions (Atlantic and Metropolitan) and the two Western Conference divisions (Pacific and Central) facing off against each other. The winner of the East and the winner of the West will then square off in a third and final game. The winning team gets a one million dollar cash prize to split between all players.
The All-Star game can be watched on TSN channels, TSN.ca and the TSN app. To view, the NHL All-Star teams visit NHL.com.
