Teemu Pulkkinen and Xavier Ouellet were , but Xavier Ouellet will not participate because he is on the Detroit Red Wings roster and has an injured wrist.  Teemu Pulkkinen was sent back to Grand Rapids, though to play a few games and will be attending. 

The AHL All-Star Competition begins tonight at 8:00 PM in Utica, New York. 

Unfortunately for fans in the Southeast Detroit, there will not be a live feed available to watch the Skills Competition -unless you have a subscription to AHLlive-, but the NHL Network will air the AHL Skills Competition at 1:00 AM on a time delay, so it will not compete against the NHL All-Star Game and Fox Sports Detroit will air it at 10:00 PM on Monday after the AHL All-Star Game. 

Teemu Pulkkinen will take part in three events during the All-Star Skills Competition. 

Event #3 – Rapid Fire:

The team with the most total saves earns one goal.  So, Teemu Pulkkinen and one of his teammates will try to score as many goals as possible because each save the goaltender makes works against their team. 

Event #6 – Pass and Score:

Each individual goal scored counts toward overall team score.  Another shooting contest for Pulkkinen and two of his West teammates, he should be able to help his team with because he is able to shot quickly and fast. 

Event #7 – Breakaway Relay:

Each individual receives goal scored counts toward the overall team score.  Fans have not seen Teemu Pulkkinen deke much in his time in the AHL, so it will be interesting to see what Pulkkinen is able to pull out in this part of the Skills Competition, maybe he received some tips from Pavel Datsyuk while he was in Detroit. 

Unfortunately, Teemu Pulkkinen is not a part of the Hardest Shot event, so Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins fans will not be able to find out just how strong of a shot Pulkkinen possesses. 

But if you have seen Teemu Pulkkinen play in person or on TV, then you know what a special shot Pulkkinen has and being left out of a competition does not change it. 

Good luck, Teemu! 

The full list of AHL All-Star Competition events and participants can be found HERE.