Hurricanes: Jaccob Slavin Should Compete in this All Star Skills Event

Jaccob Slavin, the Carolina Hurricanes’ lone 2020 NHL All-Star will get the chance to compete in at least one of the Skills events. This is the one he will shine in.

Jaccob Slavin will be the lone 2020 NHL All-Star to represent the Carolina Hurricanes after the untimely injury to Dougie Hamilton, the original selection. That means that he will get the opportunity to compete in not only the All-Star Tournament for the $1 Million prize but also in the Skills Events for a seperate $30,000 per event.

I will not discuss how unjustified it is that the Carolina Hurricanes only have a single player going to the All-Star game for sixth consecutive year in a row (add on the fact that they didn’t have a single All-Star Player from 2011-2014) . I have already discussed that in much length already. No, instead of pondering which of the Skills event would have had Andrei Svechnikov or Sebastian Aho as probably the best choice, I will focus on where Jaccob Slavin fits into the Skills Events equation.

There will be six separate events in the Skills Competition in the 2020 Skills competition:

Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater™
Bud Light NHL Save Streak™
Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting™
Elite Women’s 3-on-3 presented by adidas™
Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot™
Gatorade NHL Shooting Stars™

So let’s break down each event and see which one is best suited for Jaccob Slavin.

Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater™

This one is pretty straightforward and probably mostly familiar with Nascar Fans. Go in a loop around the rink. Players can go in either direction and simply have to go around and avoid the tire stacks and cones placed in each of the four endzone faceoff circles.

Players can position themselves about three feet behind the red line to give themselves some acceleration space. The player starts at the blow of the whistle and time is started once he crosses the red line and ends when he crosses the red line once again at the same place he started.

While Jaccob Slavin has shown spurts of speed with his defensive back-skating and some offensive pushes to get the puck in the zone, this is not the event for him. Best to leave this to guys like Connor McDavid.

Bud Light NHL Save Streak™’

This one is another straightforward event. This time the goalies get to shine. Stop the puck until you don’t. Each goalie will face off against a rival division’s skaters and will get to see at least nine shots to get their streak going. After that they keep going until the steak is broken.

The rules are the same as those for the shootout. The goalie with the most consecutive saves wins. If two or more goalies are tied at the end, they go into a sudden death mode of “goalie goals” not sumo goalie wrestling unfortunately.

This is one that Jaccob Slavin, a master at the shootout, will not be the one to actually shine, but instead be the one that takes away someone else’s sunshine. Uncharacteristic of him, I know.

Imagine Andrei Svechnikov ending someone’s streak with a lacrosse goal. It wouldn’t be allowed in a real shootout I know, but what if they allowed it at this event. Mass hysteria. Alas.

Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting™

The Accuracy Shooting event is usually the fastest ones to go. After all, speed is the key and some of these guys can get it down pat faster than you think. There is an LED screen placed on the goal line and players will have to time hack to take them all down. They will disappear after each hit and time to stop when they are all taken down.

This is one I can see Jaccob Slavin competing in, but it wouldn’t be my first choice for him, and neither would it be his. As a defender it isn’t his job to get the puck to the net accurately, although accuracy can help, he is looking for a deflection by the forwards that he more than likely finds before the horns go off.

Gatorade NHL Shooting Stars™

This is probably the most complex and complicated event for the day. It has never been done before and honestly, may never be done again. Before I talk about what exactly it entails, just take a look at the layout:

See that shooting platform on the far left? That’s where the players will be. Off the ice. behind the fans. While special protective netting will be installed to protect fans from getting blasted from behind, make no mistake, the players will be shooting pucks over the fans and onto the ice at the targets marked above. The rules for points will be as follows:

Pucks that do not hit a target will earn no points.
Pucks that bounce, deflect, or otherwise ricochet onto or into a target will be counted for the highest scoring value they hit.
A puck that hits the face of a target then falls into the center will be scored as if it went directly into the center.
A puck that hits the center and bounces out will be scored the point value of the center.
A puck that bounces off the ice then up onto or into a target will be awarded the corresponding value.
A puck that hits the base of the target will not be awarded any points.
Players may hit the same target multiple times.

Eight NHL players and 2 Female players, one American and one Canadian will be competing in this insane event. I would absolutely LOVE to see Jaccob Slavin compete in this. He would actually do pretty well in it. The only concern is that it is so random, insane, and a little dangerous. Still glad to see the NHL take risks. Whomever came up with this better have gotten a raise.

Elite Women’s 3-on-3 presented by adidas™

Before we get to the obvious remaining event that I have selected for our NHL All-Star, let’s talk about the Women’s 3v3. I love and hate this event. I love this event because it has involved more than one woman in this NHL showcase masquerading as an All-Star game event. I love this because the women are so talented that they can give most of the men pointers.

But I hate that it is considered a “skills” event but the women are not getting fairly compensated. The winning team will get the $30,000, but as charity money to be donated in their names. The men of course will compete for $1,000,000 split across the team to keep. A step forward and a step back for the NHL. Hopefully, by the time the game comes around, this is improved.

Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot™

Now for the one event that Jaccob Slavin will excel in. That is right, the NHL’s Hardest Shot. Last year’s winner, John Carlson will return to defend his title, winning with a 102.8. That is only slightly better than Alex Ovechkin‘s 101.3 the year before and nowhere near Shea Weber and his 108.5 the previous years. No one else has come close to Zdeno Chara and his 108.8 monster slapper.

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Perhaps it is time they get introduced to Jaccob Slavin’s rocket of a shot. While he is known as the king of defensive defenders, Jaccob has a sneaky underrated slap shot that he rarely uses. It’s not the most accurate shot, but when he can get it on target, goalies never see it, even if they are looking right at it.

With Alex Ovechkin and Zdeno Chara sitting this All-Star Weekend out, the only real competition left is an aging Shea Weber and John Carlson, the reigning winner. This is the time for Jaccob Slavin to come in and take the competition out and show the rest of the league exactly what they have been missing. Then follow it up by not allowing a single goal against in the tournament the next day.

Question for CC Readers: Which event do you think would be best for Jaccob Slavin?

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Carolina Hurricanes: Jaccob Slavin Should Compete in this All Star Skills Event