Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – The NHL’s Skills Competition won’t have that much of a different look despite the two-year hiatus for the showcase, but one notable absence may have an impact on perhaps one of the most popular events.<\/p>\n
A new hardest shot champion is expected to be crowned on Saturday when the league’s All-Stars get together to show off some of their skill at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena.<\/p>\n
The NHL has not held its All-Star weekend since 2012, with the lockout wiping out the event the following year and the Winter Olympics displacing the showcase in 2014.<\/p>\n
One event that most fans look forward to seeing each year is the hardest shot, a competition that has been dominated recently by Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara.<\/p>\n
Chara won the event in each of the past five competitions and in 2012 broke his own record for hardest shot by unleashing a rocket at 108.8 mph to get to the finals. He then edged Nashville’s Shea Weber with a 107.0 mph shot in the last round, topping Weber’s 106.0 mph shot.<\/p>\n
While Weber will be eligible to participate this weekend, Chara did not join him as an All-Star, with a 19-game absence caused by a knee injury the culprit.<\/p>\n
The last hardest shot winner other than Chara was Adrian Aucoin in 2004.<\/p>\n
Like 2012, the All-Star teams will be decided by a fantasy draft conducted by captains Nick Foligno of Columbus and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews. Each of the 48 All-Stars and rookies picked for the showcase will compete in at least one of the six events. Each event has a certain number of points up for grabs, usually awarded by the best team performance along with individual showing.<\/p>\n
For example, there are five points available in the fastest skater competition as four players from each team go head-to-head over four rounds. The winner of each heat gets a point for his team, with the player that records the fastest time overall picking up an addition point.<\/p>\n
New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin had the fastest time in the event three years ago.<\/p>\n
The breakaway challenge, meanwhile, aims to get the fans involved as it returns for its fifth showing. Five spots are divided up by the two captains, with a sixth player getting an automatic bid based on Twitter voting by the fans.<\/p>\n
Players that were eligible for the spot include Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames, Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Blue Jackets’ own Ryan Johansen.<\/p>\n
After all eligible skaters complete three shot attempts — with style, creativity and flair encouraged — fans in attendance and watching on television will have a chance to return to Twitter and vote on a winner.<\/p>\n
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin won the first three instances of this event, but pulled out of the All-Star Game in 2012 after getting suspended for three games following an illegal hit. Returning All-Star Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks ended up the winner, first donning a Superman cape along with thick Clark Kent glasses for a second shot in which he dove to the ice, threw the puck from the left side to the right with his hand and tapped it in with a stick.<\/p>\n
On this third shot, he used a trick puck designed to explode into pieces when struck and ended up earning 49 percent of the fan vote.<\/p>\n
An elder event that returns is the accuracy shooting, which follows a similar format to the fastest skater in that four players on each team go head-to-head over four rounds trying to hit all four corner targets in the fewest shots.<\/p>\n
Dallas’ Jamie Benn earned an extra point for his team in 2012 by hitting all four targets in the fastest time at 10.204 seconds.<\/p>\n
There are no individual honors up for grabs in the Skills Challenge Relay, a timed event that consists of five challenges: one timers, passing, puck control, stick-handling and goalie goals. Fourteen skaters and one goaltender from each team will participate, with a point going to the fastest team in each heat and the team with the fastest overall time getting a bonus point.<\/p>\n
The shootout portion of the event gets a different look with all 48 players — 14 skaters and two netminders each session — participating over a three-round shootout.<\/p>\n
Unlike the previous elimination format that went to a last-shooter standing, seven skaters per round have 10 seconds to take a shootout rule-abiding shot against a goaltender, with teams alternating after each shot. Every third puck is a bonus that is worth two points scored as opposed to the normal one.<\/p>\n
Team Chara beat a squad captained by Daniel Alfredsson in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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