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Off-Day Watch 1/26: Drew Doughty, sort of accurate

Posted on by Sarah Avampato

If you ask us, Drew Doughty needed to have one goal in mind coming into this year’s All-Star Game, and that was to simply do better than last year. Don’t embarrass us, maybe. Also, like, eat your vegetables and get a solid night sleep, if we’re doling out mom-like life advice here.

When he was announced as a participant in the accuracy challenge, however, well, you guys spoke up, and the prediction was “Yikes!”

Drew proved us wrong though with an inspired effort at slamming some pucks into some targets:

His 13.591 seconds put him third in the challenge, behind eventual winner David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins (11.309) and defenseman Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins (12.693). Amazingly, it looked like Doughty could have completed the task even faster. He hit four consecutive targets and was under 10 seconds when he started shooting for the last one, the top right corner of the net. He started rushing to complete that one, which is, of course when he started missing the target.

Still, not bad from our defenseman, who has so far spent the rest of his weekend reveling in boos.

Kings Things

In case you missed it, the Kings will be playing the Colorado Avalanche in the 2020 Stadium Series game. [Jewels from the Crown]

Some perspectives on the outdoor game from the other side of the ice. [Mile High Hockey]

Drew Doughty on his welcome to San Jose for the All-Star Game. [Los Angeles Kings]

Elsewhere

Kendall Coyne Schofield, real fast:

Behind the scenes on Coyne Schofield’s decision to participate in the skills contest. [TSN]

Also, while it wasn’t broadcast, Brianna Decker demonstrated the Premier Passer event for the crowd and completed it in 1:06 — three seconds faster than winner Leon Draisaitl’s time of 1:09:

Is Gritty actually the best thing about the ASG? Probably, yeah:

The men behind the suits: the tailors who outfit most of the NHL’s stars. [The Athletic]

Trevor Moore may be the next member of the Toronto Marlies to make a big impact in the NHL. [Maple Leafs Nation]

Despite appearances from older players like Doughty and Henrik Lundqvist, this year’s All-Star Game belongs to the young stars. [AP News]

Michael Del Zotto’s trade to the Ducks was bittersweet for the veteran player. [The Athletic]

The NHL confirmed plans to deploy puck and player tracking next season. [NHL]

We are all Brent Burns’ guests. [NHL]

Evening Entertainment

The game portion of the All-Star Game is tonight, airing at 5:00 pm Pacific on NBC. Let’s see if Drew gets booed quite so much when he’s scoring for the Pacific Division.

Talking Points