From the Fastest Skater and Hardest Shot to the Obstacle Course and Passing Challenge, Michael Traikos recaps the 2024 NHL all-star skills competition

The 2024 NHL all-star skills competition took place at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena, with a slew of new — technical — events. With $1-million going to the winner, you just knew that everyone was going to take it seriously.

This was apparently Connor McDavid's idea. Or the NHL made sure he was on board with it.

Either way, he came to play, winning the fastest skater, stickhandling, accuracy and overall obstacle course.

In other words, he showed why he is the best player in the NHL.

Here is a breakdown of the night's events:

1) NHL Fastest Skater

WINNER — Connor McDavid, EDM: 13.408

Mathew Barzal, NYI: 13.519

Quinn Hughes, VAN: 14.088

Cale Makar, COL: 14.089

William Nylander, TOR: 14.164

Three-time fastest skater champion Connor McDavid entered the event as the odds-on favourite. And the Edmonton Oilers captain, who previously won in 2017 (13.02 seconds), 2018 (13.454 seconds) and 2019 (13.378 seconds), did not disappoint.

McDavid raced around the ice with a time of 13.408, which was slightly faster than New York Islanders' Mathew Barzal (13.519), who had won the event in 2020.

"Obviously, it was good enough to win it," McDavid told Sportsnet's David Amber. "Barzy got me a couple of years ago. Feels good to get it back, I guess."

2) One Timers

WINNER — Nathan MacKinnon, COL: 23 points

David Pastrnak, BOS: 22 points

Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 22 points

Elias Pettersson, VAN: 22 points

Nikita Kucherov, TBL: 19 points

J.T. Miller, VAN: 18 points

Mathew Barzal, NYI: 17 points

Auston Matthews, TOR: 15 points

The new event, which had players one-time passes into the top portion of an empty net, highlighted the sharp-shooting skill of the NHL's top snipers. 

No gimmicks. No bells or whistles. Just some soft passes and precision shooting from progressively difficult angles.

Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon won the event with 23 points, which should not have come as a surprise considering that he ranks second in the NHL with 84 points this season. Although the highlight of the event may have been that Chicago's Connor Bedard showed up with a broken jaw and fed passes to David Pastrnak and Mathew Barzal.

3) NHL Passing Challenge

WINNER — Elias Pettersson, VAN: 25 points

Cale Makar, COL: 23 points

Mathew Barzal, NYI: 21 points

Auston Matthews, TOR: 19 points

William Nylander, TOR: 16 points

Nathan MacKinnon, COL: 13 points

Quinn Hughes, VAN: 15 points

Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 12 points

Connor McDavid, EDM: 10 points

J.T. Miller, VAN: 7 points

Nikita Kucherov, TBL: 5 points

Another new event, players began behind the net and had 45 seconds to skate back and forth up the ice, while aiming passes at a cluster of small targets. It was something that may have been inspired by a carnival game. But it was actually pretty straightforward and showcased how impressive NHLers are at finding teammates with a well-placed pass.

Well, not all of them.

Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov heard some boos (or, were they saying "Kuuuuuuuch"?) from the Toronto crowd — probably some leftover hate from last year's playoff series against the Leafs — after he struggled to hit the targets. Not that it looked like he was trying.

Someone who definitely looked like he was trying was Vancouver's Elias Pettersson, who finished with 25 points. The Canucks centre, who has 37 assists in 49 games, collected three points on his last pass, managing to fire off the puck just before time expired.

"I was nervous at the start," Pettersson told Sportnet's David Amber. "I almost fell down at the start."

4) NHL Hardest Shot

WINNER — Cale Makar, COL: 102.56

J.T. Miller, VAN: 102.34

Auston Matthews, TOR: 96.22 mph

David Pastrnak, BOS: 93.82

Elias Pettersson, VAN: 98.40

Nobody managed to break Zdeno Chara's record of 108.8 mph. But then again, what did you expect?

There was no Alex Ovechkin. No Steven Stamkos. No player, really, who lives and dies by the slap shot.

Vancouver's Elias Pettersson won the event last year with a 103.2 mph blast. And Colorado's Cale Makar had 17 shots between 90-100 mph in actual game action this season. But the majority of shooters relied more on the wrist shot than the big-time slapper.

Still, Makar showed why he is once again a Norris Trophy favourite, by uncorking a 102.56 rocket.

"I'm not good enough to beat McDavid (in the fastest skater event) today," Makar told ESPN's PK Subban. "We'll take that one."

5) NHL Stick Handling

WINNER — Connor McDavid, EDM: 25.755

Mathew Barzal, NYI: 26.929

William Nylander, TOR: 27.272

Nathan MacKinnon, COL: 27.715

Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 28.677

Quinn Hughes, VAN: 29.038

Elias Pettersson, VAN: 29.526

David Pastrnak, BOS: 38.488

Nikita Kucherov, TBL: 44.178

Warning: do not try this at home.

A sort of agility course, players had to stickhandle through a line of 20 glowing pucks, before weaving backwards and around cardboard cutouts and then toe-dragging around a final obstacle and firing a shot in the net.

This one was obviously not for the fourth liners.

Players were timed to see how fast they could make it through the whole thing. Honestly, just doing it without losing the puck was victory enough — something that Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, Vancouver's Elias Pettersson struggled with, as the Canucks centre blew a tire and fell to the ice.

Boston's David Pastrnak had it even worse, managing to miss the net from about 10 feet out, which meant he then had to retrieve it and put it in.

Edmonton's Connor McDavid was the winner, with a time of 25.755, which should have been a surprise to no one.

"It was different," "I thought it was a fun event … It was tight. I thought I was going to blow an edge on the first turn."

6) NHL Accuracy Shooting

WINNER — Connor McDavid, EDM: 9.158

Auston Matthews, TOR: 9.341

J.T. Miller, VAN: 13.587

William Nylander, TOR: 14.099

Quinn Hughes, VAN: 14.815

Nathan MacKinnon, COL: 15.958

Nikita Kucherov, TBL: 16.460

Cale Makar, COL: 19.069

David Pastrnak, BOS: 19.670

Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 46.089

The signature event is a classic.

Players have to try and break as many of the four circular targets as they can with the least amount of shots. Back in the day, Ray Bourque went 4-for-4 and in the process achieved legendary status. Nowadays, it happens with such regularity that the NHL had to add a timer to make it more interesting.

That being said, Edmonton's Connor McDavid went 4-for-4 in less than 10 seconds. The way he was shooting the puck, he probably could have went 10-for-10 .

7) NHL One-on-One

WINNER — William Nylander vs. Cam Talbot: 9 points

Auston Matthews vs. Thatcher Demko: 7 points

J.T. Miller vs. Jeremy Swayman: 6 points

Mathew Barzal vs. Igor Shesterkin: 6 points

Cale Makar vs. Connor Hellebuyck: 4 points

Elias Pettersson vs. Jake Oettinger: 3 points

Connor McDavid vs. Alexandar Georgiev: 3 points

Nathan MacKinnon vs. Sergei Bobrovsky: 2 points

Put away the oversized sunglasses and tone down the humour. This event was all business. And it mostly belonged to the goalies, who faced shot after shot after shot for 60 seconds.

Players got to choose which goalie they wanted to face, although William Nylander's reasoning for picking Cam Talbot was not exactly scientific.

Sergei Bobrovsky looked like he was in playoff form as he allowed just one goal from Nathan MacKinnon. Meanwhile, Toronto's William Nylander got the best of Cam Talbot, and Auston Matthews showed why he is leading the league with 40 goals as he completely undressed Thatcher Demko on a couple of highlight-reel dekes.

Alexandar Georgiev was the top goalie, with nine saves. The fact that they all came against Connor McDavid made it even more impressive.

8) Obstacle Course

The top-six players advanced to the final competition, which was an obstacle course that tested all their skills.

Starting at the centre red line, they had to skate around the net and stickhandle through a set of randomly lit obstacles, then "sauce" three pucks into mini nets. After that, they had to weave through oversized Pepsi can-type obstacles before firing the puck into a regulation-sized net. 

Confusing? Sure. But it looked fun — and extremely difficult.

Just ask Mathew Barzal, who couldn't manage to get the puck to land in the tiny net. Or William Nylander, who breezed through most of the obstacle course before ringing a shot off the crossbar on what might have been the winning time. It was a million-dollar miss. And it opened the door for Connor McDavid, who only needed to finish in the top-2 to win the entire All-Star Skills Competition.

McDavid didn't disappoint.

WINNER — Connor McDavid: 40.606

Cale Makar: 43.435 seconds

Auston Matthews: 47.271 seconds

William Nylander: 49.065

J.T. Miller: 49.351 seconds

Mathew Barzal: 76.850