Tomorrow the 2020 NHL All-Star Weekend begins. The event will be held at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, home of the St. Louis Blues.
If you make the four and a half hour drive from Smashville to St. Louis, you are definitely sure to have a great experience there! Hockey fans from all over will come to celebrate an amazing sport and represent their favorite teams and players.
The NHL All-Star Game will be a three-on-three tournament, with different players from different divisions representing the division they play in. It changed to this exciting format in 2016 when the city of Nashville hosted the event.
Expect plenty of offense, speed, puck handling moves, trick passes and gorgeous set-ups as the action will go back and forth. There’s usually some spectacular saves sprinkled in as well.
As Preds fans, what should we expect?
Well, the 29-year-old defenseman and captain Roman Josi will be the only representative this year for the Nashville Predators. It’s his third appearance at the All-Star Weekend, and he probably has many more to come.
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This season, Josi has played 47 games with 48 points. He has 14 goals and 34 assists. This season has been full of highlights for him. He’s been a drastically strong player this year, compared to past seasons.
Matt Duchene was included in the fan vote for “Last Man In” but came up short as David Perron of the Blues won the vote. No other player on the Predators really has had strong enough seasons to get onto the exclusive All-Star Game roster.
The Central Division is comprised of many amazing forwards, including Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks and Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars. Here’s a complete list of the Central Division squad:
- Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild
- Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
- Ryan O’Reilly, St.Louis Blues
- Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
- Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
- Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
- David Perron, St.Louis Blues
- Alex Pietrangelo, St.Louis Blues
- Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
- Jordan Binnington, St.Louis Blues
- Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
This team will be led by the St. Louis Blues head coach, Craig Berube. It’s been quite an incredible past year for Berube as he became interim coach for the Blues and then led them to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup this past season.
The two Eastern Conference divisions will go head-to-head in the semifinal matchup. The two Western Conference divisions will face off in the other. After that, the division winners of those games will play their best in order to win the NHL All-Star Game 2020.
The Skills Competition will be comprised of events such as The Fastest Skater, Save Streak, Accuracy Shooting, and Hardest Shot.
New Year, New Ideas, and New Women
This year, they have added something so admirable and incredible to the weekend. There will be an elite women’s 3-on-3 game. Also, one player from each of the Elite Women’s Canadian and American teams will play in the Shooting Competition.
What an exciting way to grow the game by adding this event to the All-Star weekend. With that will be the “Shooting Stars” competition where players will shoot from a raised platform and try to hit targets for points.
The NHL has really pulled out all the stops this year to make the All-Star weekend more than just the game itself. There will be plenty to take in and enjoy on both Friday and Saturday.
Be sure to tune into the eventful weekend on Friday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN and on Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBC! Let’s cheer on Josi and hope he brings home some hardware of his own in the form of MVP honors or winning one of the skills competitions.