The National Hockey League announced the participants for Friday's All-Star Skills Competition in St. Louis, and some of the sport's biggest names will lace them up as part of the festivities.

Here are the players who will participate:

Fastest skater

Save streak

Accuracy shooting

Hardest shot

Shooting Stars

The Shooting Stars competition will feature eight NHL players, one American elite women's All-Star, and one Canadian elite women's All-Star. Participants will attempt to hit targets positioned on the ice while standing on an elevated platform 30 feet above.

The two women's All-Stars will be selected through a social media vote.

Elite Women's 3-on-3

Some of the best in women's hockey from Canada and the United States will take the ice in a three-on-three game. The 20-minute contest will be played in two 10-minute periods, and the game will use a running clock.

Team Canada: Meghan Agosta, Melodie Daoust, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull, Renata Fast, Laura Fortino, Ann-Renee Desbiens

Team USA: Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, Annie Pankowski, Kacey Bellamy, Lee Stecklein, Alex Cavallini

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When people see a post telling them to avoid betting certain teams to win the Stanley Cup, there's a tendency to overreact. The automatic assumption is the author thinks those teams suck.

Spoiler: I don't.

The St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins could definitely still win the Stanley Cup, as they're two of the NHL's top teams. But don't back them at their current price.

The 2019 Stanley Cup finalists are among the top three favorites to lift the trophy in June, just behind the league-leading Washington Capitals.

*only teams with odds shorter than 15-1 are displayed

Both teams have earned a place atop the oddsboard, but at 8-1 and 9-1, there's next to no value in backing either to win the Stanley Cup. There's enough evidence to believe those prices are inflated, partially due to misleading records and recency bias.

The Blues have been one of the league's best and most consistent teams over the past calendar year, but a 2.53 expected goals for per game (xGF/60) shows they're not as good as the club's record indicates. That mark, which ranks 23rd, is largely rooted in the Blues struggling to create scoring opportunities.

They're also 23rd in scoring chances per game (SCF/60) and 27th in high-danger chances per 60 minutes (HDCF/60). St. Louis has been converting a high percentage of its opportunities, which means the Blues are inevitably due for some regression. It's difficult to remain consistently successful against NHL-caliber goalies without a proven ability to generate quality chances. Of course, the Blues play smart fundamental hockey and don't approach games intending to simply outscore teams, but these numbers are at least cause for some concern.

St. Louis will never sizzle offensively, and injuries to some key forwards aren't helping. But the team's defensive numbers are perhaps even more worrisome.

The Blues are middle of the pack in expected goals against per game (17th), and in preventing high-danger scoring chances against (16th). They've come to rely heavily on a league-high .854 save percentage in high-danger situations. Jordan Binnington is good, but that's unsustainable.

The Bruins, meanwhile, may not find it difficult to suppress offense, but creating it is a problem.

They rank 21st in xGF/60 and, like the Blues, an inability to muster consistent scoring opportunities is the main culprit. Boston ranks 17th in SCF/60 and 25th in HDCF/60 while benefiting greatly from a 22.8 shooting percentage during high-danger chances. That's the fourth-highest mark in the league and an efficient source of offense that will be hard to sustain. In fact, we've already seen that number come down significantly from a month ago when Boston ranked first in that category.

Since Dec. 5 the Bruins have won just nine games while losing 14. They're playing well-below .500 hockey, and with the Tampa Bay Lightning surging behind them, their once seemingly insurmountable Atlantic Division lead is slipping from their grasp.

It's also worrying that Boston is struggling against top teams. Excluding the Bruins, 10 teams have notched 60-plus points heading into the All-Star break. The Bruins have produced a 5-11 record against those squads that they'll likely be facing on a nightly basis in the playoffs.

While the Blues and Bruins undoubtedly possess the talent to again reach the finals, where's the value in backing them at such short odds given these flaws?

Only one team has appeared in back-to-back Stanley Cup finals over the past decade - the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 - and at these prices, you definitely shouldn't be betting St. Louis or Boston to become the second.

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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Despite a difficult 2019-20 campaign, it doesn't appear San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson is on the hot seat.

"While we are all very disappointed in the team's performance thus far this season, Doug has a long history of leading our team to success," Sharks majority owner Hasso Plattner said Thursday.

Entering the All-Star break, the Sharks sit third from the bottom in the Western Conference. The team already fired head coach Pete DeBoer in December and replaced him with Bob Boughner.

"The last time we failed to meet our winning standards in the 2014-15 season, we were able to quickly rebound and re-establish a winning culture for the next several years," Plattner added. "I am supportive of Doug's plan to get our team back on track."

The Sharks made a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015-16 and have qualified for the playoffs in every season since. However, the club is currently 11 points back of a wild-card berth with 32 games remaining and will likely miss the postseason for just the second time since Wilson's hiring in 2003.

Wilson has made several key moves in recent years to keep the Sharks' Stanley Cup window open, but a dramatic drop-off on the offensive end combined with weak goaltending has resulted in the unsuccessful campaign to date.

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Aaron Ekblad would like to offer a reminder of a frequently forgotten fact: A mere 38 days separated him from being a normal player in the 2011 Ontario Hockey League draft. If he had been born in late December 2005, not early February 2006, the troublesome "exceptional status" label that's colored the narrative of his career would have never been an option.

"It's hyped up like crazy, but realistically it's a month and seven days difference," Ekblad said in a recent interview. "I was just like any other kid going to play hockey with some older guys. It worked out for me, and it was the right play in terms of development. … To me, it felt normal."

Exceptional status allowed Ekblad to enter the OHL as a 15-year-old, and he was clearly above average. He won rookie of the year honors as an underager and, by the end of his three-year tenure with the Barrie Colts, was considered the league's best blue-liner. He was physically, mentally, and emotionally mature. But Ekblad also raises a valid point about his birthdate and how certain labels can take on a life of their own.

"When he came to us at 15, he transitioned really well," Colts general manager Jason Ford said. Then, Ford added, the crazy comparisons started. "Somebody early on threw out the name Bobby Orr, which is not really fair. When you watch him, he's not that type of defenseman anyway. The person who threw it out there must not have seen him play."

It's all a little ironic nowadays, seeing as there's a strong case to be made that Ekblad is actually underrated and underappreciated at the NHL level. Sure, he created buzz during his Calder Trophy-winning debut with the Florida Panthers. What about in the four-plus years since? He's been largely forgotten amid a slew of injuries and the incremental nature of his development. Perhaps he's simply been out of sight, out of mind.

"He's in Florida. If he were anywhere else on the planet he'd get a lot more recognition," said Willie Mitchell, Ekblad's former teammate and mentor.

Ekblad, who turns 24 on Feb. 7, battled through multiple concussions and a neck issue prior to finding his way back to elite form. The eight-year, $60-million deal he signed in July 2016 may have looked like a mistake the following season (Ekblad's self-described "weak year"), but that's not the case now. He's a legitimate No. 1 NHL defenseman in 2020.

"He's done a lot of great things for us over the years," Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck said. "But, with his skill set, he has all the tools to be a top-five defenseman in the league. He's got size, he's got speed, he's got skill, he's got a shot. He can do it all."

With five goals and 23 assists in 47 games, Ekblad is in the middle of the most productive campaign of his pro career. He's on pace for 48 points in 80 games following an offseason of specialty coaching. As a big man - 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds - in a small man's game, he's well aware that he must try his best to "stay relevant in terms of creativity and puck-handling ability."

"For me, puck handling is the biggest thing," Ekblad explained. "Can I have my head up while handling the puck and make a play? Some coaches want a high-flip kind of game, a puck-off-the-glass defenseman, but I think the game has transitioned to defensemen being more skilled, quicker, able to make plays, and be up on the rush for the five-man attack."

It's fair to suggest Panthers coach Joel Quenneville is pleased with the early returns. Powered by the NHL's most potent offense, Florida has a 28-16-5 record, which at the All-Star break places the team third in the Atlantic Division and eighth overall in points percentage. With Ekblad, the Panthers have been an objectively better squad at five-on-five. Based on the heat maps below, the club takes higher-percentage shots in the offensive zone when he's on the ice versus when he's not. Key in on the red blobs:

Ekblad, the club's ice-time leader, is 11th in relative shot differential among the 164 defensemen who have played at least 500 even-strength minutes this season. The Panthers own a cool 53.2% of the shot share when Ekblad is between the boards and only 48.4% when he's on the bench. His most common defense partners - MacKenzie Weegar, Keith Yandle, and Michael Matheson - have all seen their underlying numbers dip when they're paired with someone else, which suggests Ekblad's doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

According to Brian Campbell, his first NHL partner, Ekblad's had a certain composure since his debut in 2014. "I played too cautious myself, expecting that maybe he's going to take some time to grow and learn," Campbell said, still impressed. "It was almost more of an adjustment for me. This kid was ready to go right from the get-go."

Campbell left the organization after the following season. It was no coincidence he returned to Chicago, where Quenneville was still running the bench. "I think you'd have to give him a lot of credit for keeping it very simple for Aaron," he said of Quenneville. "For us, as players, you want to know what's going on and not have any gray areas. That's what Joel does."

Ekblad and the rest of Florida's longtime core - Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Trocheck, and Yandle - are already on their fourth coach. Ask Ekblad about his past few years and the challenges he's faced and he immediately brings up Quenneville's predecessor, Bob Boughner.

"He did a great job teaching me some things that helped me evade situations where I could get injured," Ekblad said. And these instructions led to better habits. "If the puck was dumped in my corner, it was all about knowing where guys are on the ice and know who you're up against.

"But also, get back on the puck as quickly as possible so that you have time to make a play and get your stick or put your shoulder into the guy to protect yourself a bit. The faster you can make a play the quicker you can protect yourself."

Mitchell suffered several concussions during a 900-game NHL career. He compares a player's post-concussion approach to the mindset of an overly defensive driver. You're bound to get into a car accident if you're timid behind the wheel.

"I like to look at the glass half full," Ekblad said. "I don't think they've affected me too much here. I feel good day-to-day. I'm happy, I feel healthy, and I'm learning ways of avoiding that kind of injury."

Which brings us full circle. Over the phone, Ford mentions Ekblad's numbers this season. The Colts GM is impressed by his point production and nightly workload against stiff competition and suggests there's room to grow. Maybe the "exceptional" alumnus will hit 20 goals and 40 assists one day. "He's still relatively young for a defenseman in the NHL, right?" Ford said.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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Former NHL defenseman Marc Methot says his playing career is likely over.

Methot underwent knee surgery last January during the final year of his contract with the Dallas Stars, and the 34-year-old doesn't expect to play again.

"I haven't made any final or official announcement, but it's looking like I'm probably done playing hockey," Methot told TSN Radio Ottawa 1200 on Thursday.

Methot played just nine games for the Stars last season before the surgery. After attempting to return, the Ontario native doesn't believe it's worth enduring the physical toll it took on him again.

"I really tried to make an effort and get back and I just weigh the options and whether it's worth putting my body through that kind of mental and physical excretion and it's just not worth it," he said

Methot added that "it's probably best for myself and the family that I step back from the game."

He played 13 NHL seasons, spending time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, and Stars while recording 22 goals and 123 points over 624 career games.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have loaned defenseman Jake Muzzin to the AHL's Toronto Marlies for a conditioning stint, the team announced Thursday.

Muzzin suffered a fractured foot on Dec. 27 against the New Jersey Devils and has missed the club's last 10 games.

The loan could give the 30-year-old rearguard an opportunity to see game action during the NHL All-Star break, which runs from Jan 23-26. The Marlies play a pair of contests in Cleveland on Friday and Saturday.

Muzzin skated on Jan. 15 for the first time since the injury, and the team hopes he'll be NHL-ready when they return from the break, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

The Ontario native leads the team in hits (87) and ranks second in blocks (69) despite missing extended time, and he plays a key role on the penalty kill. Offensively, Muzzin has contributed 13 points in 38 games this season.

Toronto is back in action against the Nashville Predators on Monday.

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The NHL's All-Star festivities are upon us, and even though the sport's best players are set to convene in St. Louis for a weekend-long showcase, the buzz leading up to the event is far from palpable.

This isn't a new problem for the league, either. The NHL All-Star Game isn't circled on the calendars of many fans, and players aren't always keen on going, either. Despite being one of the most popular players of his generation, Alex Ovechkin backed out after being named the Metropolitan Division captain and will serve a one-game suspension instead of travelling to the Gateway City.

Ovi's well within his rights to choose rest as a 15-year veteran, but when someone like Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin, only 23, tells his own fans not to vote him in, it's obvious the event doesn't mean a whole lot to the players.

All-Star Weekend's always been about the fans, but when they don't really care, either, the league's got a significant issue. The NHL's made positive strides in making the event more intriguing in recent years - the move to a three-on-three tournament and the inclusion of women among them - but there's still room for improvement.

Here are three suggestions to make things more exciting:

1. Allow specialists to participate

Stealing a page from the NBA's book, the NHL's marquee skills event would be better if some of the sport's specialists were allowed to participate in the competition. Some of the greatest dunk contest moments have featured players with numbers nowhere near All-Star worthy, and hockey could easily do something similar.

Could speedsters like Andreas Athanasiou or Kasperi Kapanen give Connor McDavid a run for his money in the fastest skater challenge? Why are we watching All-Stars struggle to hit 100 miles per hour in the hardest shot competition while Zdeno Chara sits at home and laughs off the feeble attempts at his records? Chara should be taking part in this event even in retirement.

It's a harmless way to captivate the fan bases of the new players involved, and doesn't force All-Stars into events they shouldn't be in.

2. Bring back the draft

The NHL was a few years ahead of its time - when's the last time you could say that?! - with an All-Star fantasy draft, and it's time to bring it back.

The old method gave us some memorable moments, but there's now an opportunity for things to get even more interesting with the All-Star Game played at three-on-three. Here's one idea: Keep the four-team format with a captain from each division (and its fan-vote component), and let each pick their own squad from a pool of All-Stars. Now, please imagine McDavid paired with Nathan MacKinnon on all that extra ice, or Auston Matthews and Sidney Crosby on the same line. You'd watch that.

Televise the draft and mic up the players, who should also be encouraged to show off their personal style (the dress code: no dress code). Fans love behind-the-scenes looks at their favorite athletes and this would be a great opportunity for the NHL to sell its stars, something it struggles to do.

3. Let the goalies have some fun

The poor goalies.

If anyone shouldn't care about All-Star Weekend, it's goaltenders. Getting fully dressed to sit around and watch skaters do their thing during the skills competition has to undoubtedly be a drag, and taking the crease cold only to see how many saves can be made in a row can't be much fun, either - it certainly isn't great to watch.

So let's have the goalies do what the skaters do. Who wouldn't want to watch goalie races, or find out which netminder is secretly holstering a rocket of a slap shot?

Rapid-fire suggestions

• Involve alumni: You know that Crosby and Matthews line we mentioned? Wayne Gretzky would be a good option to fill it out.
• Incentivize the skills competition: The players aren't hard up for money, but perhaps they'd try a little harder if more loot was on the table throughout the weekend.
• H-O-R-S-E competitions: Emphasize creativity and let's really see what the players can do.
• KHL-style shootouts: They know how to put on a show in Russia.
• In-game trades: Captains coordinate with coaches on one opponent they'd like to poach over the course of a game. Trades are announced on the bench, and players exchange jerseys at center ice. Instant theatrics.

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