The Montreal Canadiens held their annual team skills competition on Sunday afternoon, which is the only event that fans will get to watch their players compete this season after the All-Star break's cancellation for the Four Nations Faceoff. It's a lovely event for young hockey fans who like seeing their favorite players perform their skills, which is what the All-Star Weekend is about.
Nevertheless, there were some interesting winners in the competitions. Alex Newhook won the fastest skater, Mike Matheson won the accuracy shooting, and Arber Xhekaj won the hardest shot. I thought it'd be a fun thought exercise to compare their numbers to the winners of the most recent All-Star Weekend to see how they would've stacked up.
Fastest Skater: Alex Newhook - 13.573 secs
Connor McDavid won the fastest skater event at the 2024 NHL All-Star Skills Competition. It shouldn't be any surprise after watching him skate for years, but what is surprising is how close Newhook came to beating him. McDavid's time was 13.408 seconds, which is less than two-tenths of a second faster.
In fastest skater terms, that is a wide margin, but Newhook would've been third in the event in 2024. The only other player faster than him would've been Mat Barzal, while he would've beaten Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, and William Nylander by near or over half a second. Newhook was actually nearly three-tenths slower than last year's.
Accuracy Shooting: Mike Matheson - 12.092 secs
Matheson is another player who would've come third in this event if it was at the 2024 showcase. Connor McDavid also won the accuracy shooting competition, beating Auston Matthews by less than two-tenths of a second. McDavid's time was 9.158 seconds, which would've blown Matheson away.
However, Matheson would've beaten the third-place JT Miller, who finished his in 13.578 seconds.
Hardest Shot: Arber Xhekaj - 101.2 mph
You aren't going to believe it, but Arber Xhekaj would've also came in third in the 2024 event. Xhekaj doesn't use his massive shot as much in games, but you can believe that he will fire the puck when given the opportunity. Xhekaj won the event at the Habs' skills competition with a whopping 101.2 mph bomb, which fans can only hope we'll see hit the back of the net in a game soon this season.
Makar won the event with a 102.5 mph shot in 2024, while JT Miller finished just behind him with a 102.3 mph shot. They were the only players to shoot higher than 100 mph, as Elias Pettersson was third with a 98.4.