Three new events will take place during the 2023 NHL Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook.
Two of them - The NHL Throw and Sink event presented by Enterprise and The NHL Normal Four event presented by Chipotle - will feature players in typical Florida outdoor environments. Also new is the NHL Shootout presented by Discover, which will test goaltending skills in an innovative way.
Throw and Sink will take place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale and will pit eight players against four teams of two. Players will have to hit all the targets before attempting to knock their opponents into a pool of water. The winner will be the one who sinks their opponent first.
Players will combine their hockey and golf skills on a golf hole in the Normal Four event, where the green will be located on an island. Six players will participate, and the winner will be the one who completes the hole with the fewest strokes. In case of a tie, the player with the longest tee shot will win.
In the goalie pairing event, eight goalies will work in tandem - one will take shots and the other will play in front of the net (Central vs. Pacific and Atlantic vs. Metropolitan). The goalie responsible for shooting will take shots from a designated area and receive three points if their shot goes in, two points if it hits the target in the net and no points if it misses.
The goalie in front of the net will face one, two or three players depending on the number of points scored by his or her teammate. Players will start at centre ice and most NHL shootout rules will apply. Play will continue until all the pucks have been shot and then the second pairing will take place. The goaltending tandem with the most points will win.
Rounding out the skills competition will be the Upper Deck Fastest Skater, GEICO Most Powerful Shot, Great Clips Breakaway Challenge and Honda Most Accurate Shot. The winner of each event will take home $30,000.
The Skills Competition will be held February 3 at the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, ESPN).
The Department of Player Safety will determine which players will participate in each event and the order of participation.
Five players will join the competition: Alex Carpenter and Hilary Knight of the United States, and Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston and
Sarah Nurse of Canada. Former NHL goaltender and Hockey Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo will participate in the breakaway challenge as a celebrity goaltender.
While players will be participating in the skills competition, DraftKings users will be able to test their hockey knowledge by participating in a free pool that could win them $1000 by visiting https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/pools. The pool will be accessible after players have been assigned to each event.
The NHL is also launching the NHL Fan Skills Competition at Home 2023 presented by BioSteel, an Instagram and TikTok campaign designed exclusively for fans that will begin at noon on February 1 and end at noon on February 16. Fans, or legal guardians of fans under the age of 18, will be able to submit videos of themselves demonstrating their skills at any level in one of five categories: feints, accuracy, best celebration, trick play and puck handling. Fans can submit a video by uploading it to nhl.com/FanSkills. Fans using TikTok are encouraged to use the keyword #NHLFanSkills. Some fans may see their video posted on NHL social platforms.
