Watching All Of The NHL All-Star Skills Competition Fastest Skater Laps At Once Is Mesmerizing

The NHL All-Star Weekend is in the books, and if there was anything that everyone was expecting, it was for Connor McDavid to win the All-Star Skills Competition.

The league unveiled a revamped Skills Competition that saw only a dozen of the league's all-stars competing for a million dollars. Think of it kind of like the all-around gymnastics completion at the Olympics with substantially less flipping, but more pucks.

There was some serious talent on the ice, but if you're looking for an all-around skills champ in the NHL, most people are throwing their money on McDavid.

And if there was any event everyone watching knew he'd win it was the fastest skater competition.

McDavid is known to be one of the fastest skaters in the league, and according to NHL Edge which tracks players' top speeds as well as bursts of over 22 mph and 20 mph, McDavid is toward the top in all categories. 

In fact the only other player anywhere near him on those lists and who was competing in the skills competition was Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.

So, we all expected to see McDavid win and he did. But what's wild about it is — as ESPN's John Buccigross noted on the broadcast — you could tell just by looking at it that he was significantly faster than the competition.

Well, once the All-Star festivities were over the NHL dropped one of the coolest videos I've seen in a while: a composite that shows all of the fastest skater competitors overplayed in one video.

Check it out, it's awesome.

How cool is that?

Check out the drive out of the first turn. He just explodes and is well ahead of everyone at the red line. That speed continued and he was well clear of Quinn Hughes by the time he hit the finish line, and still a few strides clear of the Islander Matt Barzal.

That was weirdly mesmerizing. You see videos like that in motorsports a lot, but it's fascinating to see it with some of the fastest skaters in hockey.

Not the fastest though. The top speed any player has hit so far this year was 24.21 mph which Flyers forward Owen Tippett hit late in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens last month.

I was watching this live, and it's wild that you can see him find an extra gear through the neutral zone.

Only four players have cracked the 24 mph mark this season. Tippett was one, Braden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning hit 24.15, Nathan MacKinnon hit 24.05, and — would you believe? — Connor McDavid also hit 24.05 mph.