Skills!
Welcome to Friday, folks!
Tonight’s the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, which is usually far more entertaining than the All-Star Game itself.
The festivities begin tonight at 7 PM, with the event broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN+ in the United States and on Sportsnet and TVAS in Canada.
As a reminder, David Pastrnak will be competing in the One-Timer Challenge, the Hardest Shot Challenge, the Stickhandling Challenge, and the Accuracy Shooting Challenge.
Jeremy Swayman will be involved in the One-on-One Challenge, as you’d expect.
They should let the goalies participate in the other events too, but that’s an argument for another day.
Two other bits of news for your Friday:
Were the Bruins in on Elias Lindholm?
Maybe, according to Elliotte Friedman:
.@FriedgeHNIC, citing a report that an unnamed team was close w/ E. Lindholm but wanted him with a contract extension, said he believes that team was Boston. (See: H. Lindholm)
Added that “(if) Lindholm hits the market this summer, I think the Bruins are going to be in there.”
— Matt Porter (@mattyports) February 2, 2024
An international tournament in Boston and Montreal
It appears that there will be some kind of mini World Cup-style tournament in both Boston and Montreal next year:
Sources say #NHL + #NHLPA plan to announce this afternoon 2025 international tournament hosted in Montréal and Boston.
Four nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden and United States.
Not totally clear yet if today also includes confirming Olympic participation, but that is on track.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 2, 2024
As Ty Anderson noted on Twitter, strange to see David Pastrnak’s Czechia excluded, especially when you’re making Boston one of the host cities.
Anyways, what else is on tap for today?
Or you can discuss the Skills Competition later.