NHL planning outdoor All-Star skills competition on the Vegas Strip!

According to a report from ESPN insider Greg Wyshynski, the NHL is in discussions with the city of Las Vegas to bring their annual All-Star Skills Competition to the famed Las Vegas Strip!

From Wyshynski:

The NHL is in talks with Las Vegas officials about holding two new All-Star Game skills competition events outdoors on the Las Vegas Strip, a source tells ESPN.

League executives were in Las Vegas this week to present the plan to city officials, local police and at least one hotel, The Bellagio. The 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Competition is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 4 (ESPN) and the All-Star Game is set for Saturday, Feb. 5 (ABC), at T-Mobile Arena, home of the Vegas Golden Knights.

The plan is to have traditional skills events such as hardest shot and fastest skater inside the arena. The outdoor events will be created specifically for the Vegas All-Star weekend, with themes inspired by Sin City itself. The NHL is deciding between a few different concepts for the events, "but they all have a Vegas touch to them," said the source.

The outdoor events will require a temporary shutdown of Las Vegas Boulevard, the main thoroughfare known as the Strip. It's expected to be a partial closure of the six-lane road, rather than a total shutdown.

- Greg Wyshynski

Oh, baby! An NHL skills comp on the Vegas Strip!?!?!

Sign me up TODAY!

This would be an absolutely incredible event which, purely because this is the NHL we're talking about here, has me skeptical that it will ever happen. But, having said that, if there's one thing the NHL delivers on it's fancy showcase events like the annual Winter Classic and the multiple Stadium Series events that we've seen over the past decade. So... maybe there's actually something to this proposal?

Honestly, I think this would be the bash of the season if the league can pull it off. Just imagine drinking your face off on the Vegas Strip while you watch Connor McDavid rip around the cones during the fastest skater contest. Or getting absolutely black out drunk during Alex Ovechkin's turn at the hardest shot competition. Sign me up! Vegas, baby!