Welcome to NHL All-Star Weekend. Tonight is the Skills Competition, the annual night of fan friendly frivolity that’s usually a good time. We get to watch two Islanders strut their stuff this year and that doesn’t happen too often so I recommend checking it out if you can.
NHL All-Star Skills Competition
- Saturday, January 27, 2018
- Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
- Start Time: 7 pm
- Broadcast: NBCSN (US), CBC, Sportsnet, TVA Sports (Canada).
This year’s events include the Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater, Dunkin’ Donuts NHL Passing Challenge, old favorites like the Hardest Shot and Accuracy Shooting and the new GEICO NHL Save Streak. Sadly, the Dunkin’ Donuts Passing Challenge doesn’t involve NHLers trying to pass cups of scalding hot coffee to one another inside of a minivan while at a Dunkin’ drivethrough. Now that’s a challenge.
Update: No Tavares in the shooting accuracy? Tough crowd. Hoping Bailey’s skates have wings tonight.
Here are the participants in the major individual NHL All-Star Skills Competition. #NHLAllStar https://t.co/YTK4n3QeHS pic.twitter.com/UnpeQB9AGY
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 27, 2018
All the details on the competition can be found here. The All-Star Game is on Sunday at 3:30 pm.
Best of luck to John and Josh. AND FOR GOD’S SAKE DON’T GET HURT.
A few Islanders reads to pass the time
- I posted this last night because it appears a resolution is coming. Bloomberg reports that the Islanders will play 12 games at Nassau Coliseum next season. I remain highly skeptical of the plan but we’ll see what happens when it all shakes out.
- Expect John Tavares to get asked a few questions about his free agency this weekend. [Newsday. Mark Herrmann is covering the event]
- The PHWA has voted on mid-season awards and Mathew Barzal is your runaway winner for the Calder Trophy. Tavares finished third for the Hart.
- Copper n’ Blue looks at Jordan Eberle and what exactly the Oilers lost (and the Islanders gained).
- Elliotte Friedman thinks the Islanders are in the hunt for defensemen. Makes sense. He also says they’re playing Dennis Seidenberg on their top pairing which hasn’t been a thing except for a brief spell a few weeks ago that mercifully has ended. [FanRag]
- Doug Weight doesn’t want to issue medical updates on his players, and maybe that shouldn’t be his, or any coach’s, job anyway. [IPB]
Affiliate News
- The Sound Tigers got to within one goal halfway through the third period but couldn’t complete the comeback, losing to Springfield 5-3. [CT Post | Soundin’ Off]
- Oh, and hey: The AHL All Star Classic is Monday night. Our own Brendan Burke and Sound Tigers radio man Alan Fuehring will be calling the game for NHL Network and Sirius XM Radio, respectively.
- Matt Gaudreau scored two power play goals to lead Worcester to a 5-2 win over Quad City. [Telegram]
And around the NHL
- Raw Charge has been doing great work on the All-Star Game for weeks. This guide to the weekend is very comprehensive.
- On recent retiree Marc Savard and how he created a hockey fan all by himself. [SCOC]
- Erik Johnson the Avalanche’s post-Matt Duchene trade turnaround. [ESPN]
- Bad news for Bogo: Zach Bogosian will miss the rest of the season with a hip injury. [TSN]
- Brooksie announces that the Rangers are open for biznizz. Just send them all of your best young players and highest draft picks and a bunch of totally fine pending free agents can be yours.
- Brock Boeser isn’t just Barzal’s main rival for the Calder Trophy, but a strong person who’s family has seen (and is seeing) their share of tough times. [The Athletic]
- Why is Michael Del Zotto getting more ice time for the Canucks than the superior Ben Hutton? Lots of reasons that Canucks Army examines.
- The TSN draft rankings are out and we are all living in Rasmus Dahlin’s world.
- Country music superstar Trisha Yearwood has a cooking show and has been a hockey fan and casual player for a long time. Watch for a bunch of Predators to appear on her Food Network show this morning. [NHL.com]