The NHL’s redesigned All-Star Skills Competition brings $1 million in prize money and new excitement to one of the league’s marquee events of the year.
But you wouldn’t know that from watching Nikita Kucherov.
The rebranded event had just 12 contestants, but the Lightning superstar was eliminated after just six mini-games.
Kucherov, 30, finished in the middle of the pack in the one-off challenge, but struggled in the next passing challenge. And the crowd at Toronto’s Scotiabank Center heard him.
As he skates down the ice at the event, even on ESPN broadcasts, Kucherov doesn’t seem to be getting things close to full speed, and it doesn’t seem like he’s trying to accomplish pass targets in any meaningful way. I realized that.
“There’s not a lot of intensity here, Metz,” play-by-play man John Buccigross told analyst and Rangers legend Mark Messier.
“There’s just not enough intensity here,” Messier replied with a laugh.
As Kucherov neared the end of the challenge and the crowd began to complain, Butchgross added, “Frankly, this is not a good look.” “The fans are booing him. This is what happens when you don’t do your best in a hockey city like Toronto. They’ll let you know.”
Kucherov’s half-hearted attempt left him last in passing challenges and 20 points behind top point getter Elias Pettersson.
Things got even worse in the stickhandling challenge, and although he still put in some effort, Kucherov finished last again with a time of 44.178 seconds, making him the only athlete to finish in the 40s.
Connor McDavid, who won the challenge and later claimed the full $1 million prize, finished in 25.755 seconds.
As the boos appeared to get louder, Kucherov finished the event by raising his left hand and waving to the crowd.
“You sit there for about three hours and then you start using the stick handle,” Kucherov said, according to the Associated Press. “That was a little difficult.”
He got another chance at the Shooting Accuracy Challenge and finished 7th out of 10, ending a disastrous night.
Kucherov will get another chance to have a better weekend in Ontario in Saturday’s All-Star Game, where he was drafted No. 1 by Jack Hughes’ team earlier this week.
