Preview: Stars will be skilling

Feb 3, 2023 - 6:00 PM

South Florida is the place to be for this year’s NHL All-Star Game and festivities. First on the docket is the All-Star Skills Event, a still relatively new addition to the weekend.

Luckily for the Colorado Avalanche and their participants, just because it’s new doesn’t mean they’re being left out.

The Avs will participate in two of the events taking place in the evening. Firstly, Cale Makar is participating in the fastest skater event going up against the Detroit Red Wings Dylan Larkin, Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov, Vegas Golden Knights Chandler Stephenson, and Carolina Hurricanes Andrei Svechnikov.

It is Makar’s second appearance in the event, dating back to last year’s event in Las Vegas. Makar finished with 13.84 seconds for fourth-best last time out. He may have a good shot at the crown tonight.

Meanwhile, all the Avs will be involved in the other event of the night. The new “Splash Shot” event is on the beach as players will be paired up to try and dunk their partner in a dunk tank. Nathan MacKinnon will be partnered with Sidney Crosby from the Pittsburgh Penguins, while Makar and Mikko Rantanen will be partnered together.

Those two pairs will go against each other along with Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, as well as Brady and Matthew Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers respectively.

While the brother duo will be fun, I mostly want to see what shooting skills Shesterkin has because a goalie not playing goalie is always unique. But, the Avs of course will be what most of the community will be focused on (or so I’d like to think.)

Alas, the fun awaits the players bathing in the fresh Florida Sun. Catch it all live on ESPN’s networks.