NASHVILLE -- Detroit Red Wings rookie forward Dylan Larkin is the fastest skater in the history of the NHL All-Star Skills competition.

Larkin, 19, took advantage of the opportunity he earned to best the record held by Mike Gartner, finishing his lap in 13.172 seconds during the Bridgestone Fastest Skater competition that opened the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Saturday.

"I really went into the last lap and said I was going to give it all I had, why not just go for it," Larkin said

Gartner's record of 13.386 seconds, set at the 1996 NHL All-Star Game, had stood for two decades.

NASHVILLE -- Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber won the AMP Energy NHL Hardest Shot for the second consecutive season with a shot of 108.1 mph.

Weber fell short of the 108.5 mph shot he had in 2015 in Columbus, but his 108.1 mph shot was the runaway winner. Weber's first attempt was 105.3 mph. He got a loud ovation from the Nashville fans when his name was announced.

"You want to have fun at those things, and it is fun," Weber said. "We are competitive so you definitely want to get better every year and just keep trying to improve, but if you ask [Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne], I think it'll still be pretty hard."

NASHVILLE -- The best players in the NHL can make something like the Draft Kings Accuracy Shooting Contest look easy.

The 2016 champ says that's not the case.

New York Islanders captain John Tavares was the best of the sharpshooters Saturday at the 2016 Honda All-Star Skills Competition, helping the Eastern Conference to a 3-2 win in the event.

NASHVILLE -- The Eastern Conference dominated the Western Conference in the Discover Shootout, the final event of the Honda All-Star Skills Competition at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

The Eastern Conference won the Skills Competition 29-12, which allowed it to choose the order of play in the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports). Captains Jaromir Jagr of the Florida Panthers and John Tavares of the New York Islanders chose to play first.

"It's going to be good for us to play the first game," Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo said. "Hopefully, we win and get a break for the second and get ready for the third. That's the whole point of playing the first period, able to maybe get a breather. The other team's going to have to play back to back games, which is tough."

NASHVILLE -- When thousands of National Hockey League fans enjoyed Fan Fair, 250,000 square feet of interactive hockey fun in the Music Center Saturday afternoon, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and MLBAM president and CEO Bob Bowman were also present, introducing the national media to new digital products that will enhance the fan experience long after All-Star Weekend is over.

The redesigned NHL.com, NHL app and NHL.TV (a rebrand of NHL GameCenter Live) are scheduled to launch Monday morning, giving fans a whole new user experience.

NHL.TV will allow fans to watch games on all major connected device's platforms, with a multi-camera mosaic layout for alternate angles.

NASHVILLE -- Six-year-old Nevan Coburn gave out almost as many autographs as he got Saturday while visiting the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game locker rooms.

Nevan, a guest of The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, took out a Sharpie and his own hockey card and signed it for New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider, the first player he met.

"He said, 'Dad I want to take some cards with me and hand them out to give back to the players,'" his father Derek Coburn said. "... It's absolutely amazing. He got in the dressing room and just froze; he went, 'Dad ... look.'

"... Nevan just loves hockey. Loves to play it, loves to watch it. He recognized a bunch of the players too. As they'd walk in, he saw people and he'd just go, 'That's Roberto [Luongo]; that's P.K. Subban; that's 'Schneids.'"

NASHVILLE -- The Los Angeles Kings will be the host team for the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend, Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Saturday during a press conference at the Music City Center during his annual address at the All-Star Game.

The League's mid-season showcase will take place Jan. 28 and Jan. 29 and will include the NHL All-Star Skills Competition and the NHL All-Star Game.

Commissioner Bettman said the game was awarded to Los Angeles in part because the franchise will be celebrating its 50th anniversary, but also, in part, because of the impact their home arena, Staples Center, has had on the transformation of downtown Los Angeles.

NASHVILLE -- The expansion process, featuring applicants from the Quebec and Las Vegas markets, is ongoing and the Board of Governors executive committee is not ready to make a recommendation to put expansion to a vote, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Saturday.

Commissioner Bettman updated the expansion process and spoke about a number of other topics at his annual state of the League press conference prior to the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition.

NASHVILLE -- Andrew Herzog knew quite some time ago that his chances of playing in the NHL were beyond slim.

A native of Mendota Heights, Minn., Herzog decided to go to the Air Force Academy and try to play hockey for his uncle, Air Force coach Frank Serratore.

"I tried to give it a shot without playing juniors, but I couldn't hack it," Herzog said.

Instead, he stayed and spent four years as a student manager, skating with the practice squad. He later got married and had two children.

But on Saturday, Herzog, 27, was on the ice at Bridgestone Arena with Vanderbilt University's club team rehearsing the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition.

NASHVILLE – The 2016 NHL All-Stars hit the red carpet in advance of the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

A huge crowd gathered to watch the players and coaches walk the red carpet and interact with the fans. It was a perfect illustration to Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber on how much hockey has grown in the city.

"It's unbelievable," Weber said. "You can see how much the fans love hockey here and how much it means to this city. It's kind of a long time coming. I felt like people wanted the All-Star Game here for a long time, and they finally got their wish."