NHL All-Star Skills Competition facts for kids

The NHL All-Star Skills Competition is a super exciting event that happens the night before the big National Hockey League All-Star Game. It all started in Pittsburgh in 1990. This competition is where the best hockey players in the league get to show off their incredible talents. Players from the All-Star teams pick who will compete in each challenge. The team that wins an event gets points!

Awesome Challenges Today

Accuracy Shooting

This challenge is all about hitting targets! Players try to hit four targets placed in the corners of the hockey net as fast as they can. Before 2011, the goal was to hit all four targets using the fewest shots.

Some amazing players have hit all four targets with perfect aim: Ray Bourque (twice!), Mark Messier, Jeremy Roenick, Tomas Kaberle, Evgeni Malkin, Daniel Sedin, Nazem Kadri, Brock Nelson, and Connor McDavid (twice!). Daniel Sedin holds the record for hitting 4 out of 4 targets in just 7.3 seconds!

In 2018, they started using cool LED targets that light up to show players where to shoot. In 2019, these targets even had emoji faces of famous NHL players! For the 2020 competition, a fifth target was added in the middle of the net. These targets showed player names, team logos, and more. In 2023, they went back to four foam targets but added a "knock-out" style. This meant players competed head-to-head. Even though McDavid had the fastest time, he was knocked out by Kadri in the semi-finals.

Accuracy Shooting Winners

The score in the final round is listed.

Breakaway Challenge

Since the 2007–08 season, the Breakaway Challenge has been like a "slam dunk" contest in basketball. Players show off their most creative and skillful breakaway moves. Fans get to vote for their favorite player using text messages to decide the winner.

Breakaway Challenge Winners

Fastest Skater

This event is all about speed! Players race around a special course on the rink to see who is the fastest. For a while, the final race was one full lap around the rink. Then, in 2008, it changed to a shorter course, but it went back to a full lap after 2015. In 2016, Dylan Larkin set a new record with a time of 13.172 seconds.

Fastest Skater Winners

Hardest Shot

This event measures who can shoot the puck the fastest! Martin Frk holds the record for the hardest shot in hockey at 109.2 miles per hour (mph), which he did in an AHL All-Star competition. Zdeno Chara holds the NHL record with a shot of 108.8 mph in 2012. Before him, Al Iafrate held the record at 105.2 mph. After Chara, Shea Weber had three of the hardest shots in 2015 and 2016, with speeds like 108.5 mph. The world record is 110.3 mph by Denis Kulyash.

Al MacInnis has won the Hardest Shot competition seven times! He always used a wooden stick, which is different from the modern composite sticks. He said he got better aim with a wooden stick, but he probably could have shot even faster with a newer stick!

Hardest Shot Winners

Passing Challenge

This challenge first appeared in 2018 and was called "Premier Passer" in 2019. It came back in 2024 as the "Passing Challenge." Players earn points for their team by passing the puck to different targets, through courses, and into nets as quickly as possible. Each part of the challenge must be finished before moving to the next.

• Target Passing: Players must make four good passes to targets that light up randomly.
• Give and Go: Players complete four passes through a special course.
• Mini Nets: Players must pass the puck into four small nets and then into the main goal.

Passing Challenge Winners

One-Timers

This event started in 2024. Players try to score as many points as possible by taking "one-timer" shots. A one-timer is when a player shoots the puck right after it's passed to them, without stopping it first. Players take three one-timers from three different spots on the ice.

• Scoring:

* Top corners of the net: 4 points * Sides of the net: 3 points * Middle of the net: 2 points * Hits the goal post: 1 point * Hits the bottom of the net, crossbar, or misses: 0 points

Each player has one minute to take up to nine shots. If a pass isn't good, they can let it go, but they only get five passes at each spot. If a stick breaks, the clock stops. The player with the most points wins!

One-Timers Winners

Stick Handling

This event also debuted in 2024. It's designed to show off players' smooth stick work. Players skate forward and backward through an obstacle course. They have to control the puck around objects as they move towards the goal. Once they shoot the puck into the net, the clock stops. The player with the fastest time wins. This part of the competition was inspired by the old "Puck Control Relay" event.

Stick Handling Winners

One-on-One

This event, new in 2024, highlights the amazing skills of the goaltenders. The player who is in last place overall gets to pick which goalie they want to face (as long as it's not their own teammate). Players have 60 seconds to try and score on the goalie. Pucks are placed in special areas on the ice.

• The first five pucks (closest to the net) are worth 1 point each.
• Unlimited pucks from the blue line are worth 2 points each.

Players must carry the puck across the hash marks before shooting. They cannot score off a rebound. If the player is still carrying the puck when the clock runs out, they get one final shot. The player who scores the most goals wins. The goalie who makes the most saves in this event wins a $100,000 prize!

One-on-One Winners

Obstacle Course

This was a special event in 2024 that helped decide the overall winner of the entire Skills Competition. Players showed off all their skills in one big challenge! They had to skate fast while carrying the puck, stickhandle through mini light-up bridges, pass the puck into three small nets, carry the puck through a cone course, and finally, shoot the puck into a tiny hole in the net. The fastest time won this final event. All the points from every event were added up, and the player with the highest total won a $1 million prize!

Obstacle Course Winners

Final Standings (2024)

Past Events

Here are some of the cool challenges that were part of the Skills Competition in past years:

Breakaway Relay

The Breakaway Relay was held from 1991 to 2007. Teams worked together to score goals on a breakaway against an opposing goalie. The team that scored the most goals won points. Also, the goalie who let in the fewest goals got points for their team.

Breakaway Relay Winners

Elimination Shootout

The Elimination Shootout was held from 2008 to 2012. In this event, individual players tried to score on a breakaway against a goalie. If a player scored, they stayed in the game. If they missed, they were out! The game continued until only one player was left, and that player was the winner.

Elimination Shootout Winners

Elite Women's 3-on-3 Hockey

In 2020, a special Elite Women's 3-on-3 Hockey game was held. Twenty of the world's best women hockey players competed. Ten American All-Stars played against ten Canadian All-Stars in a 20-minute game.

The game had two 10-minute periods with a running clock (except for the last minute). Teams switched ends after the first period. If a penalty happened, the fouled player got a penalty shot. If the game was tied, there was a 3-minute sudden death overtime. If it was still tied after overtime, a sudden death shootout decided the winner.

Elite Women's 3-on-3 Hockey Winners

Four-Line Challenge

The Four-Line Challenge was held in 2017. Four skaters from each team tried to score goals from different lines on the ice to earn points.

• 1st skater: Two shots from near the blue line. Goals in the upper corners of the net were 1 point.
• 2nd skater: Two shots from center ice. Goals in the lower corners were 1 point, and upper corners were 3 points.
• 3rd skater: Two shots from the far blue line. Goals in the lower center ("five hole") were 1 point, and upper corners were 5 points.
• 4th skater: Two shots from the far goal line. Goals in the "five hole" were 10 points. If the goalie scored, it was 20 points!

Four-Line Challenge Winners

Goaltenders Competition

The Goaltenders Competition was held from 1990 to 2007. Goalies earned points for letting in the fewest goals during the "Zone" and "Shootout/Breakaway Relay" events.

Goaltenders Competition Winners

NHL Shooting Stars

The NHL Shooting Stars event was held in 2020. Players shot pucks from a high platform, about 30 feet above the ice, located in the stands! Each player took 7 shots, earning points for each target they hit. The arch target in the middle of the ice was 145 feet away from the shooting platform. Players could hit the same target more than once. If there was a tie, they had a sudden death "score-off."

NHL Shooting Stars Winners

NHL Shootout

The NHL Shootout was held from 2015 to 2017. In this event, individual players tried to score on a breakaway against a goalie. It was similar to the Elimination Shootout, but players weren't eliminated if they missed. The competition lasted for three 2-minute rounds. Six skaters from each team got a chance to score on the opposing goalie. Goals scored with regular pucks were 1 point, while special "Discover" pucks were worth 2 points.

NHL Shootout Winners

Puck Control Relay

The Puck Control Relay was held from 1990 to 2019. The goal was to be the fastest skater while keeping control of the puck through a series of cones. There were two races: a team race with three skaters from each team, and a race for the best individual players. The winning team of each race earned a goal.

This event returned in 2018. Skaters from each division earned points by showing off their puck handling skills as fast as possible. Each part of the challenge had to be completed before moving on.

• Stick-handling: Skaters controlled the puck through eight pucks.
• Cone Control: Skaters skated with a puck through eight cones.
• Gates: As skaters approached each gate, they had to shoot the puck through a lit opening.

Puck Control Relay Winners

Save Streak

The Save Streak event was held from 2018 to 2022. Goalies earned points for their division by saving as many pucks as possible against shooters from an opposing division, just like in an NHL shootout. The goalie with the longest "save streak" and the most total saves won the competition. The winning goalie received $25,000!

• Each shot followed NHL shootout rules and started with the referee's whistle.
• Each goalie faced all players from an opposing division.
• Players from each division shot in order, with the division captain shooting last.
• If a goalie saved the captain's shot, they kept facing shooters until a goal was scored.
• If there was a tie for the longest "save streak," the winner was decided by the total number of saves they made in their round.

Save Streak Winners

Skills Challenge Relay

The Skills Challenge Relay was held from 2011 to 2017. This event had several mini-challenges:

• One-Timers: Three shooters had to score 2 goals each from different spots.
• Passing: One passer had to complete passes into six small nets.
• Puck Control Relay: One skater with the puck skated through cones.
• Stick Handling: One skater controlled the puck through a series of pucks.
• Accuracy Shooting: One shooter had to hit four targets.
• Goalie Goals: One goalie had to score 2 goals.

Two groups from each team participated, with left-handed shooters in one group and right-handed shooters in another for the one-timers.

Skills Challenge Relay Winners

Skills Competition Winners

In 2009, no overall score was kept for the Skills Competition.

In 2016, the conference that won the Skills Competition got to choose if they wanted to play the first or second mini-game in the All-Star Game the next day. In 2017, the winning division got to pick which opponent they would play first in the All-Star Game.

In 2018, even though there were four divisions, the competition focused on individual players, so no team score was kept.