This Week in the NHL: Revamped All-Star Weekend descends on Toronto

So many games. So little time. What should you focus your NHL hockey fandom on if your favorite team’s games don’t scratch the itch enough?

Welcome to This Week in the NHL. From now until April, we’ll lay out a collection of key games, events and deadlines to watch on the league calendar each week.

So what’s on tap for Jan 29 – Feb. 4?

Feb. 1 – NHL All-Star Player Draft & PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase

The revamped, expanded All-Star Weekend, staged in Toronto, begins Thursday with the return of the player draft. The appointed captains and their celebrity partners will pick four teams of 11 players. The captains: Auston Matthews and pop star Justin Bieber; Connor McDavid and actor Will Arnett; Jack and Quinn Hughes and crooner Michael Buble; and Nathan MacKinnon and pop star Tate McRae.

Following the draft, the PWHL’s best will compete in a 3-on-3 game. Team King, named in honor of Billie Jean King, will be coached by Cassie Campbell-Pascall and includes stars like Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight. Team Kloss, named after Ilana Kloss, will be helmed by Meghan Duggan and features the likes of Sarah Nurse and Brianne Jenner.

Feb. 2 – NHL All-Star Skills

Talk about a facelift. Instead of mixing and matching from the entire field of All-Stars, the Skills competition will now pit just 12 superstars head-to-head in all eight events, with the winner taking home $1 million. The listed participants: McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon, both Hughes brothers, Leon Draisaitl, Cale Makar, William Nylander, David Pastrnak, Elias Pettersson, Nikita Kucherov and J.T. Miller. Jack Hughes is currently on injured reserve, so his status is up in the air.

The first six events: Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Stickhandling, One-Timers, Passing Challenge and Accuracy Shooting. First place in an event nets you five points, second gets you four and so on. The top eight will advance to the seventh event: The Shootout. The top six will compete in the final event: the Obstacle Course featuring all the previous skills combined.

Feb. 3 – NHL All-Star Game

The four handpicked teams from the draft will compete Sunday afternoon in a 3-on-3 tournament, bracket-style, with the semifinal winners meeting for a final showdown.

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