TORONTO -- Sidney Crosby was happy he was selected third in the Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Player Draft on Thursday.
Now the Pittsburgh Penguins captain is ready to see what he and the rest of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon’s team can do at the 2024 Honda (U.S.)/Rogers (Canada) NHL All-Star Game at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, CBC, TVAS).
“I think it’ll be pretty competitive,” he said prior to the 2024 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook on Friday.
Crosby, making his sixth All-Star appearance, is the fourth player in Penguins history with at least that many (Mario Lemieux, 10; Jaromir Jagr and Kris Letang, six).
“Guys have a lot of pride when they’re picking their teams,” Crosby said. “They’re going to show well.”
Team MacKinnon will play Team McDavid, captained by Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, in the first semifinal. Team Hughes, whose co-captains are Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks (though Jack is sidelined due to injury), will go against Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews’ squad, Team Matthews, in the second semifinal. The winners will meet in the final with a prize of $1 million on the line.
This year marked the return of the player draft, which had been used for the All-Star Game in 2011, 2012 and 2015. Captains got to create the teams they wanted, which should add to the incentive Saturday.
Quinn Hughes will be particularly familiar with some of his players. Vancouver forwards Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, and goalie Thatcher Demko are joining the defenseman on Team Hughes.
“Hopefully we can enjoy the day tomorrow and win,” he said.
Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman was a sixth-round pick for Team MacKinnon, but he didn’t care about where he fell in the draft. He was focused on Saturday.
“I mean, I’m just super happy to be here,” said Swayman, who will be playing in his first All-Star Game. “First pick, last pick, middle pick, I was just excited to be a part of it and I think we’re going to make some noise.
“We all kind of agreed, we’re not here to lose. So, we’re going to make sure we do everything we can to win.”
The event is once again a 3-on-3 tournament, which was introduced for the 2016 All-Star Game, so it could be shaping up to be a scorer’s paradise. Since going to the 3-on-3 format, there have been seven or more goals scored in 20 of the 21 games. The exception was the Pacific Division’s 1-0 win against the Atlantic Division in the 2016 final.
Others making their first All-Star appearance are: Miller, Devils forward Jesper Bratt (replacing Jack Hughes) and Anaheim Ducks forward Frank Vatrano, for Team Hughes; Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly and forward William Nylander, and Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, for Team Matthews; Seattle Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand, newly acquired Canucks forward Elias Lindholm and Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev, for Team MacKinnon; and Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas and Columbus Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner, for Team McDavid.
“Yeah, it’s going to be fun,” Miller said. “First time doing it, so I never really know what to expect. It’s going to be great for the fans, it always is. So many talented players, so it’s going to be great.”
On the other side, McDavid will play in his seventh All-Star Game, second to Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier (eight) in Oilers history. MacKinnon, Matthews and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov each is making his fifth appearance.
This All-Star Game is shaping up to be a fun one. There will be plenty of skill as always, and having it in the hockey hotbed of Toronto makes it that much more special.
“I feel like there’s always a little bit of extra buzz, for sure,” Crosby said. “As players, you can always feel that around All-Star Weekend, with the fans and with everything going on. There’s a great energy wherever you are, but especially in a Canadian city and a place like Toronto that’s had so many different things over the years.
“It’s a great hockey town and I think people really get behind it. You can feel it, for sure.”
