NHL skills contest serious business
Don’t expect the hijinks of past events
TAMPA, FLA. What’s your favourite memory from the NHL All-Star Game skills competition?
Is it Ray Bourque shattering four targets with four pucks? Mike Gartner flying around the ice in the time it takes to send a text? Or are you the type of fan who prefers Alex Ovechkin putting on a fishing hat and a pair of oversized sunglasses and using two sticks to try to score a goal during a breakaway competition?
If it’s the latter, you’re going to be extremely disappointed with this year’s competition in Tampa.
The wigs and Halloween masks are out. So, too, are the ridiculous events that saw goalies race against each other around the rink. Instead, the NHL is toning down the silliness and getting serious about showcasing the skills of players.
Today, it’s all about the competition.
Just six events — three old and three new — that will determine who has the hardest shot, who has the most accurate shot, who is the fastest skater, who is the most adept stickhandler, who is the most accurate passer, and which goalie is the best at stopping the top players in the league on a breakaway.
To make sure everyone takes it seriously, the winner of each event gets US$25,000, plus bragging rights to legitimately say they are the best at that particular skill. It’s like the NBA’s three-point contest or the home run derby in baseball — and something the NHL should have done a long time ago.
“We wanted to go back to honouring guys for their skills,” said Steve Mayer, the NHL’s chief content officer, whose mission is to make the all-star game something we start caring about again.
He’s got quite the challenge. All all-star games and the accompanying skills competitions are a tough sell because the players often don’t try hard. Even when they do, it amounts to a night of watching player after player taking shots or skating alone around the rink. For the casual fan, it can be downright boring.
“Listen, what we ultimately want to do is have water cooler talk, but also the guys talking like, hey I’m the fastest, and build some rivalries within these competitions and best categorize our players within those groups,” Mayer said. “I think we’ve done a good job on Saturday of getting the guys that you as a hockey fan would expect in each of the different events.”