NHL Announces Participants for All-Star Skills

FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov said he hoped he would not be selected to compete in the ‘Fastest Skater’ at the NHL All-Star competition Friday night at FLA Live Arena.

Barkov can relax.

On Thursday night, the NHL announced its participants for the events which have not yet been completed.

Barkov will not be in the fastest skater but will take part in the ‘Accuracy Shooting’ segment of the Skills competition.

Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk already took part in one event on Thursday, being part of the taped ‘Splash Shot’ at the All-Star Beach Festival.

He will also compete in the ‘Shootout Challenge’ with celebrity goalie Roberto Luongo already suggesting he will be trying to stop Tkachuk.

Good luck, Lu.

The Skills event is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on Friday night and it will be televised on ESPN.

2023 NHL ALL-STAR SKILLS

AT FLA LIVE ARENA, SUNRISE

— Splash Shot (Taped on Fort Lauderdale Beach on Thursday): Sidney Crosby, PIT; Nathan MacKinnon, COL; Mikko Rantanen, COL; Cale Makar, COL; Igor Shesterkin, NYR; Adam Fox, NYR; Brady Tkachuk, OTT; Matthew Tkachuk, FLA

— Pitch ‘n Puck (Taped at Plantation Preserve on Wednesday): Johnny Gaudreau, CBJ; Clayton Keller, ARI; Jason Robertson, DAL; Nick Suzuki, MTL

— Tendy Tandem — Shooters: Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse; Goalies: Connor Hellebuyck, WPG; Juuse Saros, NSH; Igor Shesterkin, NYR; Stuart Skinner, EDM; Ilya Sorokin, NYI; Logan Thompson, VGK; Linus Ullmark, BOS; Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL

— Fastest Skater: Dylan Larkin, DET; Kirill Kaprizov, MIN; Cale Makar, COL; Chandler Stephenson, VGK; Andrei Svechnikov, CAR

— Hardest Shot: Rasmus Dahlin, BUF; Seth Jones, CHI; Josh Morrissey, WPG; Alex Ovechkin, WSH; Elias Pettersson, VAN

— Breakaway Challenge — Celebrity goaltender: Roberto Luongo, FLA/VAN; Mitchell Marner, TOR; Alex Ovechkin, WSH/Sidney Crosby, PIT (teaming up); David Pastrnak, BOS; Matthew Tkachuk, FLA

Accuracy Shooting: Sasha Barkov, FLA; Leon Draisaitl, EDM; Kevin Hayes, PHI; Jack Hughes, NJD; Nazem Kadri, CGY; Nikita Kucherov, TBL; Connor McDavid, EDM; Brock Nelson, NYI; Artemi Panarin, NYR; Vladimir Tarasenko, STL

For all of the rules of the different events, CLICK HERE

Complete rosters of the NHL All-Stars is RIGHT HERE

Florida anthem singer Hannah Walpole will perform “O, Canada” and members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The University of Miami Air Force ROTC will present colors for both the All-Star Skills and the NHL All-Star Game.

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

ALL-STAR WEEK, SOUTH FLORIDA

• Thursday through Saturday: NHL All-Star Beach Festival at Fort Lauderdale Beach
• Friday: Skills Competition at FLA Live Arena, Sunrise (ESPN)
• Saturday: All-Star Game at FLA Live Arena, Sunrise (ABC)
• Up Next for the Panthers: vs. Tampa Bay, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. (BSF)