Auston Matthews and William Nylander of the Maple Leafs have been selected to compete in the NHL all-star skills competition for a chance to win an additional $1 million.
A point winner will be determined under the new system for the appetizer all-star game for each of the eight shooting, skating, and passing events. Wednesday night saw the unveiling of the 12-person list.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and J.T. Miller of the Vancouver Canucks, David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders, and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning are also on the list.
Four of the first six events will be played by each player, who will receive points according to their finishing position. The first six are accuracy shooting, passing challenge, one-timer, quickest skater, hardest shot, and stick handling.
Matthews, the league-leading goal scorer for the Leafs and the unofficial host of all-star week in Toronto, will compete in the one-timer, passing, hardest shot, and shooting accuracy categories. Nylander leads in stick handling, accuracy, passing, and quickest skating. To put it mildly, McDavid and MacKinnon are a formidable combination.
The top eight go to a seventh game when they play a 1-on-1 versus a chosen goalie. The top six go to the final, an obstacle course with double points awarded.
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