NHL Skills Comp: What Worked, What Didn't, and What Should Have Happened

The NHL Skills Competition is the highlight of All-Star Weekend. While the game is played at half-speed by a bunch of guys who don't want to injure themselves, the skills events are almost always fun.

How did it go during Saturday night's event in Nashville? Did John Scott shame his family and find himself laughed off the ice? How could the NHL improve these events?

These questions and more are answered below.

What happened: Pierre McGuire interviewed Dylan Larkin to start the show, then Keith Jones stuck a microphone in front of Shea Weber. The latter makes sense, as Weber is the captain of the host city's NHL team, but Larkin? That's how we are getting everyone excited? With a 19-year-old saying he's happy to be here?

What should have happened instead: McGuire should have introduced the audience to the skills competition by talking with Sidney Cro… or Alexander Ovech… oh right. Jaromir Jagr is on the East roster and has a personality, so that would have been nice. The same could be said for P.K. Subban. But chatting with a seemingly bored Larkin was another way to go.

(Note: People have said the CBC broadcast had fewer ads and more working microphones on players, so what should have happened was me getting to move to Canada to watch this event on CBC.)

What happened: After breezing through the East without incident, the first player announced for the West was Chicago's Patrick Kane, who was booed with more passion than a Nicholas Sparks novel. Standing next to Kane was a cackling John Scott, who received a boisterous ovation from the crowd in Nashville.

What happened: Larkin won. He skated fast over a small course, then skated around in a big circle so he could attempt to break Mike Gartner's record in the event. The course has changed over the years—like everything around the All-Star Game—so Larkin took a run at breaking the mark of 13.386 set in 1996. Larkin stumbled and still set the mark at 13.172.

What should have happened: Hologram Mike Gartner for the final race? Maybe have the mascots take part? Or have them all wear capes so it looks like they are going even faster? The incredible speed of hockey players is tough to show visually when they are skating against each other on different paths. This event needs to bring back goalie races and it needs to bring them back immediately.

What happened: Everything! This was really enjoyable! Brent Burns went back to the "use a cute kid to get votes" technique that Ryan Johansen used last year by having his and Joe Pavelski's son take part in a Flying V goal. But there was so much more!

• Subban put on a Jagr costume—mullet, and all—and scored a goal. He won the event with 31 percent of the vote, which is about 69 percent less than he deserved. That would have been nice.

• James Neal shot a puck high and wide, then pulled a second puck out of his equipment to score. He also scored on a 2-on-0 with country music's Dierks Bentley, giving those 11 country music/hockey fans the moment of their lives.

• Burns came back for his second shot but not before a scoreboard video showing his evolution from clean-cut young man to bearded hair monster you see today. Then he donned a Chewbacca mask and rifled a shot that may have gotten a little too close to Cory Schneider for comfort.

What should have happened: The NHL should have offered the ability to live inside the Subban/Jagr moment forever. Subban should also be required to play in the game Sunday in the Jagr outfit.

What happened: A bunch of guys fired pucks at Styrofoam DraftKings targets and nobody went 4-for-4. John Tavares went 4-for-5 and won. Evgeni Malkin went 3-for-3, paused to fire up the crowd before his fourth attempt, then hit the crossbar. Typical showboating Russian putting himself before… well, himself. This is an individual event.

What should have happened: To make it more reflective of DraftKings, the targets should have been impossible to hit for the players but perfectly easy for the fantasy website's employees.

Can't we put microphones on players and stick them next to the shooters so they can talk trash? Imagine, if while Malkin was trying to accept passes and snap shots, Jagr was standing next to him saying, "You're not very good at hockey." Hey, trash talk isn't my thing, but you get the point.

And why can't we pack the targets with some sort of colored liquid? Or glitter! Zambonis take the ice after this event so there's time to clean it and no goalies are skating through the crease. Let's turn this event into a rave or a Blue Man Group show.

What happened: There's nothing quite like the television that's created when Corey Perry hammers 30 seconds worth of one-timers from a sharp angle wide of the net and off the post. There were a couple stick-handling miscues and passes into tiny nets. The whole thing took nearly 10 minutes but it felt like an hour.

What should have happened: This event is just brutal. Two thirds of the one-timers are the equivalent of NBA players shooting layups during their skills night. Shooting pucks into tiny nets is boring. Maneuvering through Gatorade bottles is great cross-brand marketing but it's not fun. Here are a few suggestions for what we could do make the most of these 10 minutes.

• Karaoke: Two players, a five-minute song apiece. Performances are voted on by fans.

• Sumo suit wrestling battle royal: Ten players per conference in a ring, all wearing sumo suits and must be thrown over the top rope. No way this takes longer than 10 minutes.

• I think we can stop at the sumo suit battle royal.

What happened: A bunch of dudes who aren't Weber took some shots that were sort of fast then Weber took his shots and they were faster than everyone else's shots. It's a tried and true plan that works (when Zdeno Chara isn't around). Scott also got a standing ovation before his first attempt, which doesn't seem like the sort of thing that will embarrass his children.

What should have happened: What about slipping an exploding puck in for Weber just so we can have a laugh? What if we made Weber dress up like Gallagher and destroy watermelons with his slapshots? Heck, make that the entire event. Why are we watching Subban and Steven Stamkos battle for second when we could watch Weber make fruit explode? Does anyone get a Gallagher reference in 2016?

What happened: John Scott executed a spin-o-rama! But Cory Schneider got a pad on it, because apparently he's the greatest goaltender in the world and somehow knew Scott was capable of pulling it off. Could you imagine if the Devils lost Schneider to a season-ending groin injury?

What should have happened: Scott should have scored. Maybe he's saving them for the game.