Betting Commercial Content. 21+. Provided by Action Network, official betting partner of The Inquirer.Mathew Barzal among best values to bet ahead of NHL All-Star Skills Competition
Check out our betting preview for Friday's NHL All-Star Skills Competition.
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At this time last season the entire hockey-watching world was in agreement that the NHL All-Star Weekend needed to be revamped. The skills competition became more of a chore than anything else and the game itself was pretty boring.
The league heard the complaints and has introduced a brand new format to the skills competition and has slapped a $1 million prize on the board for the winner.
Rather than having every All-Star compete in the Skills Competition (Friday, 7 p.m. ET), the league has designated a dozen players to participate.
The 12 players (and their odds to win) are: Connor McDavid (+600), Cale Makar (+700), David Pastrnak (+800), Nikita Kucherov (+850), Nathan MacKinnon (+850), Mathew Barzal (+850), Elias Pettersson (+900), Quinn Hughes (+1000), Leon Draisaitl (+1000), J.T. Miller (+1000), Auston Matthews (+1000) and William Nylander (+1100).
The format is as follows:
Every player will participate in four of the first six events: the Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Stick Handling, One-Timers, Passing Challenge and Accuracy Shooting. First place will be worth five points, second place four points, and so on.
The standings will be calculated after those six events and the top eight players will advance to the seventh stage, which is a shootout.
The top six players left after the shootout will advance to the final competition, which is an obstacle course and will be worth double the points (First place will be worth 10 points, second place eight points and so on).
Whoever has the most points at the end of the obstacle course wins $1 million.
Understood? Good. Let’s get to the picks. (And yes, it is worth noting that this event is random and very hard to confidently handicap. It’s fun to come up with a strategy and game theory when betting these kind of outlier events, but it’s anybody’s guess how this will play out.)
NHL All-Star Skills Competition Predictions: Picks
All odds via DraftKings.
Mathew Barzal (+850): Originally, I thought I’d be betting on McDavid to win this event but he’s taken some money and has moved to +600 and it wouldn’t shock me if his price keeps going down as we get closer. I have no qualms with playing No. 97, but instead I’ll make a case for Barzal of the New York Islanders. He’s won the fastest skater before, has incredible hands, is a terrific passer and should, if he gets there, be a real threat to win the obstacle course with his hands and edge work. Barzal is known as a player who loves to play his best when the lights are the brightest, so don’t be shocked if he’s up for this.
William Nylander (+1100): I am a bit perplexed about Nylander’s price. I thought he’d be a trendy pick -- and maybe the Toronto Maple Leaf superstar will be by the time we drop the puck -- but at this price he seems like great value. Nylander is dynamic with the puck on his stick and should be live to win any event he participates, perhaps with the exception of fastest skater. I think he can pick up enough points in the other events to make it to the knockout stages and he’ll be a threat to win the last two legs of the competition.
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