Columbus Blue Jackets Zach Werenski Wins Defenseman (Kinda)
Columbus Blue Jackets Zach Werenski competes and wins in the NHL All-Star Game fastest skater competition.
Last night in the NHL All-Star skills competition Zach Werenski competed in the fastest skater segment. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman stepped up and posted a winning time of 14.250 seconds.
Among defenseman.
Sure there were five other skaters that finished above him but they were all forwards. Defenseman are never as fast as the speeding centers and wingers in the NHL so putting Werenski in this competition was unfair from the start. In the apples to oranges competition Zach held his own and beat out all other defenseman and a forward too.
all eyes on z pic.twitter.com/4qnF4PCa6Y
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 28, 2018
Sure there was only one other defenseman in the competition (Noah Hanifin) but he beat him! Hanifin and Werenski are noted friends going back to their days at the U.S. National Development Program where they formed one of the most impressive defensive pairings in junior hockey. The two also teamed up on the 2015 World Junior team.
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Here are the results from the rest of the event.
- Connor McDavid: 13.45 seconds
- Brayden Point: 13.57 seconds
- Jack Eichel, 13.82 seconds
- Nathan MacKinnon, 14.05 seconds
- Rickard Rakell, 14.18 seconds
- Zach Werenski, 14.25 seconds
- Noah Hanifin, 14.31 seconds
- Josh Bailey, 14.41 seconds
Brayden Point put up a great showing and only lost to Connor McDavid by .12 seconds. McDavid, the undisputed fastest skater in the world, took home the title for the second straight year.
So Zach Werenski can claim that he is the fastest All-Star defenseman in the NHL although I doubt the quite and humble Werenski boast to much. Tonight Zach will take the ice for the Metropolitan team in the NHL All-Star tournament.