Today's All-Star Game schedule starts in the afternoon where Gary Bettman will give his usual press conference. Then at 7 pm on Sportsnet, the skills competition gets underway.

This year's event is very different. Only 12 players will take part, aiming at a $1 million prize.

Everyone takes part in the four out of six events, and points are awarded for placing. The top eight players by points advance to the seventh event, the One-on-One. The top six from that event compete in the Obstacle Course which includes all the skills thus far and has big points attached to it – man, Connor McDavid is a hardcase. This sounds like a lot of work.

The lineups for the first six are (from NHL.com with all the corporate branding removed except the funny one):

Fastest Skater

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers; William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs; Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks; Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche; Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders.

One Timers

Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks; Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche; Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers; Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning; J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks; Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs; Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders; David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins

Passing Challenge

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche; William Nylander; Toronto Maple Leafs; Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche; Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders; J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks; Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning; Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks; Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers; Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks; Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs; Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers

Hardest Shot

Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs; Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche; David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins; J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks; Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks

Stick Handling

Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks; Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers; Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks; Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning; Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers; Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche; David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins; Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders; William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs

Cheetos NHL Accuracy Shooting because nothing says elite athletics like Cheetos

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning; Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche; Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers; Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks; J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks; David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins; Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche; William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs; Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers; Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

The goalies for the One-on-One are:

Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins; Alexandar Georgiev, Colorado Avalanche; Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars; Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers; Cam Talbot, Los Angeles Kings; Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers; Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks; Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Players get to choose their goalie, so I hope Hellebuyck brought a book to read write.

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And from the draft last night...

No comment:

Typical Leafs team. The only defender is Mo, the goalie is on his own, and the forwards plan to score five goals each.

Not all women in hockey seem to care about this sort of thing as a listen to any PWHL broadcast will show you. But it's an easy change to make. The PWHL, however, uses linesperson almost everywhere except where the standard data structure that calls them "Linesmen" is published unedited. The AHL, where the linesperson Spector (sorry) is profiling actually works, uses the same data structures and publishes all their gamesheets with "Linesman" as the title.

Last night's ASG draft and the honouring of the 1967 Leafs (which I skipped) was not great television. I found the draft amusing, and it was bland enough the cool people can validate their cool credentials by complaining the NHL didn't let the players get drunk. But the usual SN panel shouting over the shouty rink announcer was everything that's wrong with the NHL trying to put on a show. They only understand one kind.

The PWHL showcase didn't start until well after 8 pm, and while SN had some interviews set up, it was a long wait to just get to the introductions. Big cheers for the Team USA players, and BIG cheers for Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse.

The actual 3on3 game was silly enough to be fun, but no so silly to make me turn it off. Women are so often asked to be earnestly serious while they do things people have tried to keep for men only. The best part was they all had the confidence to just play it for laughs – and to show off the skill.

The ASG shouldn't feel like a bad awards show, say, the NHL awards for example – tedium broken up by occasional bits of fun. Actually that's not fair, the draft was a 1,000 times better than the horrible NHL awards.

Have a great Friday everyone. Not sure if I'm up for the skills competition, or if watching the highlights is enough. Definitely not watching the game, though.

From The Branches