"It feels unreal and I'm really going to enjoy the four days I'm here, and I'm lucky I'm here. When you walk around the city, there's a lot of hockey here right now. It feels good. I would love to meet everyone. There are some great players here. I've met a few guys already and we'll see how it'll go."
When asked whether he enjoyed the All-Star Game from the perspective of a viewer, he admitted sheepishly that while he saw the event listed on NHL 16, "I have never watched the games and stuff like that," mostly because the hockey is vastly different from a real game. "It's a chance for fans to see good players out there," he said.
Does he want to win for the Atlantic so that he can pocket the $100,000.00 per player? "We're not here for the money," Komarov said.
So what IS he here for? "Last night I went out to a piano bar, and it was great. You just sit down and listen to live music. We don't have too much of that in Finland." Uncle Leo is here for the fans, and to just simply have fun.
Much like Atlantic Division captain Jaromir Jagr. Earlier today, Jagr was nowhere to be found.
On The Forecheck@OnTheForecheck
We're looking for Jagr. He's late. He's "somewhere in Nashville."
Not making this up.
It turns out he was simply "late," after a meeting with Metropolitan team captain John Tavares about the roster for tomorrow's All-Star Skills Competition, which will be held at 7 PM ET, and broadcast on NBCSN, SN, CBC, and TVA Sports.
Jagr made sure to feature Uncle Leo in two of the skills competition segments. He'll be representing the East in the "One-timer left shooter" competition, and also assisting on Jagr's relay group for the "Discover NHL Shootout." His fellow shootout group participants look pretty solid, and include Evgeni Malkin, PK Subban, Ryan O'Reilly, and Aaron Ekblad, with Roberto Luongo in their relay goal.
The events and participant breakdown for team Eastern Conference (with thanks to Broad Street Hockey for neatly organizing the information) is:
| Fastest Skater | Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings) Brandon Saad (Columbus Blue Jackets) Erik Karlsson (Ottawa Senators) Kris Letang (Pittsburgh Penguins) |
| Breakaway Challenge | Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) Brandon Saad (Columbus Blue Jackets) P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens) Cory Schneider (New Jersey Devils) |
| Accuracy Shooting | John Tavares (New York Islanders) Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers) Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals) Jaromir Jagr (Florida Panthers) |
| NHL Hardest Shot | Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers) Justin Faulk (Carolina Hurricanes) P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens) Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning) |
| Skills Challenge Relay | One-timer right shooters: Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers); Kris Letang (Pittsburgh Penguins); Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning) One-timer passer: Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins) Mini-net passer: Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals) Puck control relay: Justin Faulk (Carolina Hurricanes) Stick Handling: Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers) Goalie Goals: Braden Holtby (Washington Capitals) One-timer left shooters: Ryan McDonagh (New York Rangers), Leo Komarov (Toronto Maple Leafs), Ryan O'Reilly (Buffalo Sabres) One-timer passer: Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) Mini-net passer: Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins) Stick handling: Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings) Goalie Goals: Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay Lightning) |