NHL to help Los Angeles wildfire recovery with Skate for LA Strong charity game

LOS ANGELES -- With the Los Angeles area having suffered catastrophic damage from the recent wildfires, the NHL wanted to try to help those affected.

On Sunday, the League will do so with Skate for LA Strong, a celebration to support the fire recovery efforts.

The Los Angeles Kings, in partnership with the NHL, on Saturday announced the full lineup of players, coaches and musical performers for the charity game, which will be played at Crypto.com Arena (6 p.m. ET; ESPN2, ESPN+, Disney+, HULU, truTV, SN).

The game will also be shown on FanDuel Sports Network, Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus, as well as on KCAL-TV in the Los Angeles area.

“We like to view hockey and sports as an opportunity to bring people together,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said prior to the Kings’ game against the Utah Hockey Club at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

“We’ve always made it one of our values that if we can make a difference in the lives of the people that are in the communities in which we serve and have franchises, we should be doing that and that’s what we try to do.”

Each team’s roster will include a mix of celebrities, NHL alumni and hockey dignitaries as well as first responders from the Los Angeles and Los Angeles County fire departments, and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Among those participating are singer Justin Bieber and actor Steve Carell, as well as Kings general manager Rob Blake and fellow Hockey Hall of Fame members Cammi Granato, Mark Messier and Jeremy Roenick.

Steve Mayer, president of NHL content and events, said the League got in touch with Kings president Luc Robitaille about ways to help. Both Robitaille and the League had a hockey game in mind.

“We put our teams together and we’ve been working for the last month or so together,” Mayer said. “It’s been quite an experience to get to this point.

“There’s going to be quite a list, quite a group of celebrities who are really into this, not only because it’s going to be fun and they’re going to get to play some hockey at Crypto.com, but because they’re giving to a great cause. We think we’re going to raise a lot of money.”

The fires last month resulted in economic losses totaling more than $250 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Joining the four teams as honorary coaches will be actors Danny DeVito, Will Ferrell, Cobie Smulders and Vince Vaughn; rapper Snoop Dogg; sportscaster Al Michaels; internet personality Hannah Stocking; and Andrew Whitworth, former offensive lineman for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.

The event will also include musical performances by producer and disc jockey Kaskade, singer/songwriter Jordan Davis and singer Lauren Spencer-Smith.

“The crowd here is made up of firefighters, first responders, displaced families and we announced some pretty big names who literally can’t wait until tomorrow,” Mayer said. “We got one call from a guy named Bieber today who is really looking forward to it, and that’s what this is all about.

“The people who are out there are true hockey lovers and this is their way to give back. So, it’s really cool.”