NHL All-Star Skills Competition 2023: Alex Ovechkin Headlines List of Participants

The 2023 NHL All-Star weekend is here, and while we already knew who would be suiting up for each of the league's four divisions in Sunrise, Florida, we now know which players will be competing in each event during the skills competition on Friday night.

The 2023 NHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, and the All-Star Game will take place on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

The skills competition will feature four returning events, including the Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Breakaway Challenge and Accuracy Shooting challenges. There are also three new Florida-specific events, including the Splash Shot, Pitch 'n Puck and Tendy Tandem challenges.

The winner of each event will earn $30,000.

Here's a breakdown of each challenge and the players participating.

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Upper Deck NHL Fastest Skater

• Kevin Fiala, Los Angeles Kings
• Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
• Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
• Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
• Chandler Stephenson, Vegas Golden Knights
• Andrei Svechnikov, Carolina Hurricanes

Each player in the fastest skater competition will skate a full lap around the rink at FLA Live Arena. The player that finishes his lap in the least amount of time wins.

The only player among this year's competitors to previously win the event is Larkin, who won it in 2016 with a time of 13.172. Makar is the only other competitor to have competed in the fastest skater challenge, finishing with a time of 13.834 last year.

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Great Clips NHL Breakaway Challenge

• Celebrity goaltender: Roberto Luongo
• Mitchell Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals/Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (teaming up)
• David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
• Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Each player in the breakaway challenge shows off his creativity and skill by going one-on-one with the goaltender and trying to score a goal. The winner is determined by fan voting.

Ovechkin is the player to beat in this competition as he has won it three times during his illustrious career, winning in 2008, 2009 and 2011. However, Marner, Pastrnak and Tkachuk are sure to give the veteran a run for his money.

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Discover NHL Tendy Tandem

• Shooters: Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse
• Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
  
• Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
• Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
• Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
• Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
• Logan Thompson, Vegas Golden Knights
• Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
• Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning

The NHL Tendy Tandem challenge is new this year. The league describes the event as follows:

"Eight goaltenders will participate in this event, with one goalie from each division designated the shooting goalie and one the in-net goalie. The shooting goalies will earn points based on the accuracy of their shots at the net, and the in-net goalies will face rushes of three, two or one player(s), based on the number of points earned by the shooting goalie in their tandem."

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Enterprise NHL Splash Shot

• Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
• Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche
• Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
• Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
• Adam Fox, New York Rangers
• Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
• Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Like the Tendy Tandem, the Splash Shot challenge is new this year and will take place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Four pairs of players will shoot at the targets in an attempt to dunk their opponents.

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Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting

• Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
• Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
• Kevin Hayes, Philadelphia Flyers
• Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
• Nazem Kadri, Calgary Flames
• Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
• Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
• Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
• Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
• Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues

The accuracy shooting challenge has been a staple in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition since its inception. The goal of the event is to hit the four targets attached to the four corners of the goal as quickly as possible.

None of the players involved in this year's event has won it in the past, so it should make for an intriguing competition.

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Chipotle NHL Pitch 'n Puck

• Johnny Gaudreau, Columbus Blue Jackets
• Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes
• Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
• Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens

The brand new Pitch 'n Puck competition will have four players head out to the golf course. Using a combination of hockey and golf shots, the players will play a par 4 featuring an island green. The player with the lowest score wins.

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GEICO NHL Hardest Shot

• Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
• Seth Jones, Chicago Blackhawks
• Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets
• Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
• Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks

The Hardest Shot challenge has also been a staple in the All-Star Game since its inception. The goal of the competition is to see who has the hardest shot. Former Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara owns the NHL record for the hardest shot at 108.8 mph set in 2012.

Among the competitors for 2023, Ovechkin is the only player to have won the event, having done so in 2013 with a 101.3 mph shot.