It’s the All-Star weekend in the NHL and some of the best players in the world are all gathered at the Enterprise Center, home of the 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. The 3 on 3 mini-tournament will take place on Saturday but tonight is the most anticipated and interesting event of the weekend: the Skills’ Competition.
And the Montreal Canadiens are sending one of the best to represent them in team captain Shea Weber. Known for his big shot across the NHL, Weber is built for the hardest shots’ competition and tonight will be his time to shine. He will be gunning for his fourth hardest shots’ title, which would place him third all-time since the event was introduced back in 1990.
Since that time, 11 players have won the hardest shot All-Star competition. The event has been dominated by defensemen, with only three forwards ever winning it. The record for the hardest shot belongs to Zdeno Chara, who registered 108.8 mph on the radar gun back in 2012. But the ultimate hardest shooter is Al MacInnis, who has won it seven times!
| NAME | NUMBER OF TIMES WINNING |
|---|---|
| Al MacInnis | 7 |
| Zdeno Chara | 5 |
| Al Iafrate | 3 |
| Shea Weber | 3 |
| Dave Manson | 1 |
| Fredrik Modin | 1 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 1 |
| Sheldon Souray | 1 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 1 |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 1 |
| John Carlson | 1 |
And these men can bring it! Chara has four of the seven hardest shots recorded while Weber has recorded two of the top three best shots, both registering over 108 mph. As a matter of fact, Weber has three of the top four hardest shots ever recorded at the All-Star game as back in 2016, his second best was 107.8 mph.
| Year | Name | Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Zdeno Chara | 108.8 |
| 2015 | Shea Weber | 108.5 |
| 2016 | Shea Weber | 108.1 – 107.8 (gala shot) |
| 2009 | Zdeno Chara | 105.2 |
| 1993 | Al Iafrate | 105.2 |
| 2011 | Zdeno Chara | 105.0 |
| 2008 | Zdeno Chara | 103.1 |
| 2017 | Shea Weber | 102,8 |
| 2019 | John Carlson | 102.8 |
| 1994 | Al Iafrate | 102.7 |
| 2004 | Sheldon Souray Adrian Aucoin | 102.2 |
| 2001 | Fredrik Modin | 102.1 |
| 2002 | Sergei Fedorov | 101.5 |
| 2018 | Alexander Ovechkin | 101.3 |
| 1998 | Al MacInnis | 100.4 |
| 2007 | Zdeno Chara | 100.4 |
| 2000 | Al MacInnis | 100.1 |
| 1997 | Al MacInnis | 98.9 |
| 2003 | Al MacInnis | 98.9 |
| 1999 | Al MacInnis | 98.5 |
| 1996 | Dave Manson | 98.0 |
| 1990 | Al Iafrate | 96.0 |
| 1991 | Al MacInnis | 94.0 |
| 1992 | Al MacInnis | 93.0 |
You know what’s most amazing? The Al’s (Iafrate and MacInnis) did it with wooden sticks! Wouldn’t it be great to see today’s participants having to use a wooden stick for one of their three attempts? It would provide us with a better idea of the difference in velocity between the new sticks versus the old style ones.
The full line-up of participants to all events can be found on NHL.com. It all starts at 8:00 pm ET. Go Shea Go!
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