Kendall Coyne to Be 1st Woman to Compete in NHL All-Star Skills Competition

U.S. women's national team player Kendall Coyne will become the first woman to compete in the NHL All-Star skills competition as she replaces Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon in Friday's fastest skater event, according to ESPN.com's Emily Kaplan.

Coyne will go up against Cam Atkinson (Columbus Blue Jackets), Mat Barzal (New York Islanders), Jack Eichel (Buffalo Sabres), Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars), Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) and Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks).

MacKinnon pulled out of the festivities to nurse a foot injury. His status for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game on Saturday remains in doubt, and if he skips the exhibition at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, he will face a mandatory one-game suspension when the Avalanche resume play.

When she learned of her opportunity, Coyne was more than eager to compete against some of the top hockey players in the world:

Coyne was a member of the U.S. team that won silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and gold at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. 

McDavid won last year's competition with a time of 13.454 seconds. Per Kaplan, Coyne registered a time of 14.226 seconds during Thursday's practice session, which would have been good enough for sixth place in 2018.

Coyne will make history on Friday night, as the skills competition gets underway at 9 p.m. ET and will be televised on NBCSN.