Flyers’ Kevin Hayes Has Chance to Outshine McDavid

Philadelphia Flyers left winger Kevin Hayes has a chance to outshine the great Connor McDavid — and many other marquee players — when the All-Star accuracy-shooting contest is held Friday night at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Fla.

Hayes, a first-time All-Star, was among the 10 players assigned to the accuracy-shooting contest. (BTW, Hayes is staying with long-time friend and former Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle, who lives in Fort Lauderdale.)

The skills competition — there are seven events — will be televised by ESPN at 7 p.m. Friday. The All-Star Game will be Saturday at 3 p.m. on ABC.

In addition to Hayes and Edmonton’s McDavid, the shooting competition will include Florida’s Aleksander Barkov, Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, New Jersey’s Jack Hughes, Calgary’s Nazem Kadri, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, the New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson, the New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin, and St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kevin Hayes and His Young Nephew, Beau, Excited for All-Star Weekend 

South Jersey’s Johnny Gaudreau of Columbus will participate in the “pitch ‘n puck” competition. Using a a combination of hockey and golf shots, four All-Stars will play a par-4 hole that features an island green. Arizona’s Clayton Keller, Dallas’ Jason Robertson, and Montreal’s Nick Suzuki are also in the competition.

The winner of each event will take home $30,000.

The seven events: fastest skater, hardest shot, breakaway challenge, accuracy shooting, pitch ‘n puck, splash shot, and tendy tandem.

The latter event will involve goaltenders — one will shoot, the other will defend.

In the splash shot, the competition will take place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Four pairs of players will fire at targets in an attempt to dunk their opponents. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, Colorado’s Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, the New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox, Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, and Florda’s Matthew Tkachuk are the eight competitors in the bizarre event.

Hey, give the NHL credit for being creative.