Mark Lammey
NHL
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It took quite some time, but the NHL finally announced the skaters participating in the NHL All-Star skills competitions. They have also added three new events with the Splash Shot, Pitch ‘n Puck and Tendy Tandem. It will be exciting to see how those play out, but we’re focused on the tried and true. That would be the classic fastest-skater competition. Jordan Kyrou of the St. Louis Blues won the event last season and after taking a look at this season’s roster, we’ve made an NHL All-Star Fastest Skater pick for you below.
Along with our NHL All-Star Fastest Skater pick, be sure to check out all our NHL analysis for the entire All-Star weekend, including our NHL All-Star Game best bets.
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Kirill Kaprizov to win the NHL All-Star Fastest Skater (+500)
It’s quite a shock to not see Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers as a participant this season. He’s tied for the all-time record for wins in this event and was just upset last season. We expected him to be eager to regain the title, and $30,000 to the winner certainly doesn’t hurt. Regardless, we’re predicting the extra pocket change will help out a youngster tonight.
This would be another year of an upset, as Dylan Larkin is also a participant and he holds the record at 13.172 seconds. That time is for one lap around the rink, and we’re backing Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild to continue ascending to become one of the faces of the NHL. Fellow youngster Cale Makar will also be taking a trip around the ice, and he won the Norris Trophy for the league’s best defender last season. We’re expecting Kaprizov to want to get some hardware to add to his resume. The 25-year-old had the 4th-most points in the NHL last season with 108 and is already the clear leader of a playoff-bound Wild team.
This isn’t an event that can be supported with many stats directly but is more about which skater is going to have the motivation and desire to win it. Larkin already has the record, Makar has a season-long award and Andrei Svechnikov has just played 4 games in 6 nights. Therefore, we’ll back a motivated Kaprizov to win arguably the most notable NHL All-Star Skills Competition event.
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