Kevin Hayes, the only representative of the Flyers at All-Star Weekend, will be participating in the Honda NHL Accuracy Shooting Event. It will be the only event he is a part of during the Skills Competition.
The event will take place at FLA Live Arena where the game is being held this year. The competition is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET. It will air on both ESPN and ESPN+.
In the event, Hayes will compete against seven other players: Aleksander Barkov, Leon Draisaitl, Jack Hughes, Nazem Kadri, Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, Brock Nelson, Artemi Panarin, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Each player will shoot pucks at four different targets, located in each corner of the net. Whichever player hits all four targets in the shortest amount of time will be declared the winner.
This is the first time that Kevin Hayes has been named an All-Star. He leads the Flyers in assists (30) and is second in goals (15) and points (45). He is three assists away from setting a new career high, which was the 32 assists he had with the Rangers during the 2016-17 season.
This is also his best season in a Flyers’ uniform, besting the 31 points he posted in back to back years since joining Philadelphia. He scored his first career hat trick against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 17th. Hayes will be joined throughout the weekend by his nephew, Beau, the son of the late Jimmy Hayes.
Hayes has spoken about his excitement to have his brother’s son with him and even mentioned that he’s part of the reason he points to the sky whenever he scores a goal.
The skills competition will be followed on Saturday by the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Game. In a similar format to previous years, each division will compete in a 3-on-3 style tournament. There will be a total of three games in order to decide a winner. The Central and Pacific Divisions will matchup while the Metro and Atlantic will face off.
The winners of each game will then play to determine the winner. That all kicks off at 3 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+.