Cale Makar and Nazem Kadri put their All-Star skill on display

All the skills were on display in night one of the NHL’s All-Star festivities in Las Vegas. Cale Makar’s shot at the Fastest Skater title came early on in the evening and while he put up a respectable time of 13.834 seconds it was only good enough for fifth with St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou earning the victory.

Makar can take solace in the fact that he beat Nathan MacKinnon’s time of 13.895 from the 2020 All-Star game in St. Louis. Both should have several more opportunities to improve their time at future events.

For his event Nazem Kadri got to try his hand at a special “21 in ‘22” blackjack themed shooting competition out on Las Vegas Boulevard. Each of the five players were able to hit enough targets to make the required 21 and all moved on to the second round with the highest card advancing. Kadri missed his shot in that round with the crown eventually going to Avalanche nemesis and Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski.

Both Kadri and Makar had fun with their events and were great representatives for the Colorado Avalanche organization. It will be an early morning for the pair plus head coach Jared Bednar —and an injured Nathan MacKinnon in spirit— as they suit up for the All-Star game portion of the weekend with puck drop at 1pm MT on ABC and ESPN+. They will all hope to earn a victory and bragging rights for the Central Division during the 3-on-3 competition.

The NHL announced the 2023 All-Star weekend will return to South Florida on February 3rd and 4th next year. This is actually a postponement reschedule as the market was slated to host in 2021 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation o the event last year.