This year's NHL All-Star Skills Competition had a couple of new events, a couple of tweaks, and more than a few moments worth watching again.

Some players pulled off impressive accomplishments, while others struggled to complete their rounds.

Here are the highlights - and lowlights - from another memorable edition of the league's annual skills showcase:

Ovechkin fires hardest shot with triple-digit blast

The Hardest Shot competition was lacking its usual firepower without Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara, but Alex Ovechkin put on a show.

The Washington Capitals star already had the event wrapped up, but took advantage of his final opportunity and hit 101.3 mph on the radar gun to become the only 2018 competitor to break triple digits.

He was also the first forward to win the competition since Sergei Fedorov in 2002.

Doughty struggles mightily in the Passing Challenge

Drew Doughty was one such player who had a tough time, and it came in the Passing Challenge, one of the two new events on this year's docket.

The Los Angeles Kings blue-liner needed 1:47.415 to finish his attempt, more than a minute longer than St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who won it in 46.61 seconds.

McDavid wins fastest skater (again)

It wasn't much of a surprise Connor McDavid won the Fastest Skater event, given the fact he was the defending champion and, well, the fact he's Connor McDavid.

Still, the captain of the Edmonton Oilers and the Pacific Division All-Stars made history Saturday night, becoming the first-ever repeat winner.

Fleury stones Point with sweet windmill save

The Save Streak event was the other new competition this year, and while it wasn't the most thrilling, it did produce one of the best highlights of the night.

Marc-Andre Fleury robbed Brayden Point with a terrific windmill stop en route to capturing the competition with 14 consecutive saves.

Subban tosses a glove at Lundqvist

P.K. Subban provided another classic moment earlier in the Save Streak event when he tried a little misdirection by flicking one of his gloves at Henrik Lundqvist.

Hey, it was worth a shot.

Karlsson cheats his way through the gates

Several players had trouble with the new gates stage of the Puck Control Relay, but Erik Karlsson was the first of the bunch to try a brazen tactic.

The Ottawa Senators rearguard used his hands to pick up the puck, place it on his stick, and slide it through the holes.

Karlsson's scheme didn't exactly pay off, as he finished sixth in the event, well behind the winner, Johnny Gaudreau.

Marchand takes forever in accuracy

Brad Marchand was mercilessly booed by the crowd in Tampa Bay at every chance, and it might have finally gotten to him in the Accuracy Shooting competition.

The Boston Bruins' talented pest took almost 45 seconds to hit all of the targets (44.692, to be exact), more than 30 seconds longer than winner Brock Boeser.

If it's any consolation, Marchand didn't have the worst time. That distinction belonged to Anze Kopitar, who needed 50.844 seconds to connect on every target.

Boeser blows away the competition...and breaks a target

Smashing a target was a good thing in previous years, but Boeser's shooting prowess actually damaged one of the new LED targets this time around, causing a lengthy delay.

In the end, though, the Vancouver Canucks rookie edged out Brian Boyle to win the event in a mere 11.136 seconds.

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The prospective ownership group interested in bringing an NHL expansion franchise to Seattle will apparently be submitting a formal bid in short order.

Oak View Group is working on the application and should have it filed "in the not too distant future," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters Saturday at the All-Star festivities in Tampa Bay, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Bettman said any future franchises would insist on having the same expansion draft rules that the Vegas Golden Knights had, and added that the league hasn't gotten any "negative pushback" from teams about the way the most recent expansion team was allowed to construct its roster, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus.

The NHL's Board of Governors agreed to accept an expansion application from the Seattle group back in early December, three days after the city's lawmakers approved OVG's plan to redevelop KeyArena.

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In what should come as a relief to many, the NHL has heard the recent complaints regarding goaltender interference calls.

Related: Oilers need shootout to down Flames after more interference controversy

In a week that saw a handful of questionable calls resulting in goals being overturned due to goaltender interference - none more evident than that scored by Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Strome on Thursday night - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the matter in a press conference on Saturday, suggesting that "everyone is overthinking it," according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Bettman also stated that a memo will be sent out to officials asking that they ease off when looking at video and get back to the spirit of the rule.

This season 33 goals have been reversed on the basis of goaltender interference, just two fewer than all of last season.

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The NHL will play two preseason games in China in mid-September, the league announced Saturday. The details have yet to be finalized, Commissioner Gary Bettman said at a press conference ahead of Saturday's skills competition, per TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

The Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks played two preseason games in China in September of 2017 - one in Shanghai and one in Beijing. Not everyone considered it an overwhelming success.

Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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NHL stars will be flocking to Northern California around this time next year.

The 2019 NHL All-Star Game will be hosted by the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.

It will be the second time San Jose will host the festivities, having previously done so in 1997.

Next year's All-Star weekend will run Jan. 25-27, 2019.

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Victor Hedman will be taking part in All-Star weekend, albeit in a rather unexpected role.

The injured Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman was named the assistant to the equipment manager for Saturday's skills competition and for the Atlantic Division's entry in the All-Star tournament on Sunday.

He'll assist head equipment manager Ray Thill, who serves the same position with the Lightning.

Hedman was originally named to the Atlantic Division squad but got hurt against the Calgary Flames two days later, and was later ruled out for three-to-six weeks.

His father, Olle, was an equipment manager for Swedish club MoDo for 23 years.

The All-Star festivities are taking place in Tampa Bay, Fla. this weekend.

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It did not take long for George Parros to find himself in the thick of NHL suspension controversies.

Parros is serving as the NHL's head of player safety, and recently came under fire as a result of two contentious decisions: a two-game suspension for Anaheim's Andrew Cogliano that ended the Ducks forward's iron man streak at 830 games, and a maximum fine levied on Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings for a dangerous looking cross-check.

Parros addressed the decisions in a report at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in Tampa on Saturday, beginning with Cogliano's hit on Adrian Kempe, per Dan Rosen of NHL.com:

Anytime we see interference that late with significant head contact, it's been a suspension. This one, the Cogliano interference itself, was among the very latest we've seen. There was significant head contact. We have all sorts of comparables, players suspended for hits that didn't occur as late as Cogliano's with zero head contact.

Parros admitted it was a tough decision to suspend his former Ducks teammate, whose consecutive games streak was the fourth-longest in league history.

The other play in question was this cross-check by Brown on Justin Schultz, which earned the King a $10,000 fine in lieu of a suspension, a decision that was met with much criticism.

Again, Parros defended his call:

The Brown incident and Cogliano incident are two different animals. It's apples to oranges, really. Cogliano's was an interference with significant head contact. Dustin Brown's was a cross-checking incident. It's very natural to want to compare the two and the forces involved in the situations, but they're quite different. With Dustin Brown, we examined all sorts of things ... and at the end of the day the force doesn't really compare at all with any of the cross-checking or boarding suspensions we've had in the past. He was subject to a hearing, got fined the maximum amount allowable by the CBA and compared to other plays like that one, it's a stiffer fine than usual.

Parros accepted the position prior to the start of the preseason, following in the footsteps of former players Stephane Quintal and Brendan Shanahan, his immediate predecessors.

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The ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones came up with a spectacular way to commemorate the 25th anniversary of "The Mighty Ducks."

The team will wear three different jerseys during Saturday's game against the Fort Wayne Komets, each modeled after the ones featured in the hockey movie trilogy. The jerseys will then be auctioned off beginning Jan. 29.

"These were based on the three movie jerseys, so I had to do some research into the jerseys, number, and name fonts," Athletic Knit's Jeff Tasca, who designed the jerseys, told Paul Caputo of SportsLogos.net. "Since there were a lot of jersey knock-off images out there I looked at a lot of movie screen captures and official movie prop images to get the numbers as right as I could."

ABC Signature Studios is reportedly working on a television series based on "The Mighty Ducks" franchise, which could be shopped to cable networks and streaming platforms later this year.

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Now there's something worthy of cuing up "Brass Bonanza."

The state of Connecticut has unveiled a new license plate design that features the iconic Hartford Whalers logo, 21 years after the team left.

The franchise relocated to Raleigh and now plays as the Carolina Hurricanes, but passion for the Whalers never left Hartford.

"I ask the Whalers fans to get out there and purchase those license plates because maybe then they will come back," said Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, according to the Associated Press.

"We'll keep hoping. It was two decades ago that we lost on the Whalers, but in our hearts we have not."

The plates start at $60, and $45 from each sale will go toward a new infusion and dialysis center at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

It's not the first time Connecticut has pushed for the NHL to return in some form. Last February, Gov. Dannel Malloy invited the New York Islanders to play out of the XL Center (the Whalers' former home) when it seemed they had run out of options for a new arena in New York.

The state has also discussed a $250-million renovation to the XL Center, which opened in 1975, to bring it up to modern standards in an effort to lure the NHL back.

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James Neal's agent doesn't expect his client to be dealt prior to the NHL's Feb. 26 trade deadline.

The winger is representing the expansion Vegas Golden Knights at the NHL's All-Star festivities in Tampa, Fla., and all signs point to Neal sticking around for a surprise playoff run and contract extension in the weeks ahead.

"I don’t negotiate in public, but if the trade deadline comes and goes, I will be shocked if James is on another team," agent Pat Morris said, per Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "No other team has called me and said they are close to acquiring James. I think it’s full steam ahead for Vegas, and if we could agree to terms for him to (remain with the Knights) we would welcome that. He loves it there."

Neal can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, and before the season, it was expected he'd be dangled by the first-year club in order to acquire future assets. With Vegas sitting near the top of the league standings, he gives them a real chance at making noise in the playoffs.

"I don’t know (owner) Bill Foley, but he obviously has a passion to win," Morris continued. "His timetable of winning in three to five years has obviously changed now. This is not an irresponsible organization. You have to go for it when you have the chance, and James Neal and his play and leadership has been a huge part of what has happened there."

At the All-Star break, Neal sits second on the Golden Knights with 22 goals through 48 games and ranks sixth with 34 points. The 30-year-old played a big role in Nashville's run to the Stanley Cup FInal a year ago before being exposed in the expansion draft.

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