Skills Competition changes to put emphasis on players, not teams

Revamped events, enhancements in technology and cash prizes are changes the NHL expects will create a buzz around and add intrigue to the 2018 GEICO NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Amalie Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
Unlike in previous years, when the Skills Competition was as much about individuals as it was about a team competition, with the scores tabulated after each event to determine which division or conference was the winner, this year the focus will be on the individuals, with $25,000 going to the winner of each event: Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater, Dunkin' Donuts NHL Passing Challenge, GEICO NHL Save Streak, Gatorade NHL Puck Control Relay, PPG NHL Hardest Shot and Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting.

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"Last year after the event was done we all just felt [the scoring system] was a little bit complex, a little bit convoluted, so let's go back to basics and let's test hockey players on hockey skills. Just put best on best and not worry about what division guys are in," said Patrick Burke, the NHL senior director of player safety, the group in charge of running the Skills Competition. "Now, six or eight guys in each event, let's test them to see who is the fastest, who has the hardest shot, best passer, most accurate, goalie saves and puck control, and the winner of each event will get a pretty nice cash prize, hopefully an incentive to show up, compete hard and reward the best players in our League."
The targets in the Accuracy Shooting event will be one of the more noticeable changes. The League has retired the Styrofoam targets and replaced them with LED targets located in the net.

"Those Styrofoam targets that everybody loves were the same things we'd been using since the 1980s and we felt it was time to try some new things," Burke said.
The targets will light up randomly and the shooter, standing 25 feet from the goal line, will have three seconds to hit the target that is lit. The event is not complete until the shooter successfully hits all five targets. The shooter with the fastest time will be the winner.
"This is about testing hockey skills, and when it comes to goal scoring there is a large element of read and react, look up, see where you have some space in the net and put the puck there quickly," Burke said. "Guys used to have it down to a pretty good science. Most went top corner, top corner, bottom corner, bottom corner. Now it's taking them out of their comfort zone a little bit, making them react to what the technology does."
There will be similar LED technology in the Passing Challenge, when players will have to make four successful passes into targets that light up randomly as part of the event.
"We're hoping it's a better and more realistic test of what players do in games," Burke said. "It's about getting into a rhythm, finding where the puck needs to go and being talented enough to both react quickly and put the puck where you want it to go."
The third skill in the Puck Control Relay also will feature new technology.
After stickhandling through eight pucks in a straight line and zig-zagging around eight cones, the players will approach a series of gates with three cut-out sections. One section will light up and the player will have to get the puck through it before moving onto the next gate.
"The technology has been great in the testing and we're excited to see it in action with the best players in the world," Burke said.

The goalies also will be incorporated more than they have been in the past with the Save Streak event, a shootout designed to create competition among the goalies.
The goalie with the longest consecutive save streak will be the winner. If there is a tie, the goalie with the highest number of saves made during his round will be the winner.
"It's not that the goalies are just a prop while the shooters test various things," Burke said. "In this case the shooters are the props. They can't win. There is no prize for scoring the most goals here, but hopefully it will get the goalies fired up to put on a show and be crowned the best goalie of the weekend."