Will Arnett Says It's 'Not Easy' to Face-Off Against Toronto Maple Leafs in NHL All-Star Game (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Will Arnett films a NHL Awards promo video in 2016, Justin Beiber and Auston Matthews are seen suited up in Toronto Maple Leafs' jerseys in 2019.Photo:Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty; Justin Bieber/Instagram

Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty; Justin Bieber/Instagram

The Toronto native, 53, is returning home this week for the National Hockey League’s All-Star Weekend at Scotiabank Arena from Feb. 1 - Feb. 3.

Arnett is being paired up with Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid to lead Team McDavid against four other star-studded pairings — includingMichael Bubléand the New Jersey Devils’ Jack Hughes;Tate McRaeand the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon; and from Arnett’s hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews, who is paired withJustin Bieber.

Will Arnett at the premiere of ‘Next Goal Wins’ in November 2023.ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty

As a hardcore Maple Leafs fan, Arnett says it’s “not easy” to go head-to-head with the team’s center.

“But I’ve got to look at it like if he plays in the Olympics, he’ll play for Team USA, and so I’ve got to root for Team Canada,” theSmartlesshost tells PEOPLE of the Californian while explaining that the pairing makes sense as the hockey star and Bieber are“good pals.”

While the Edmonton Oilers might not be the actor’s hometown team, he is more than excited to join McDavid and assistant captain Leon Draisaitl — both of whom he calls “unbelievable players" — to lead their team.

“Connor McDavid is going to go down as one of potentially the greatest players ever to play the game,” the actor gushes. “His skating and stickhandling combo is second to none, he’s just an unbelievable, unbelievably gifted athlete.”

And Draisaitl, he says, is “also just an absolute superstar.” Arnett adds, “So that I get to be with those guys is … What a thrill, what a total thrill.”

Ahead of the weekend’s festivities, which kicked off with the draft on Thursday before coming together on Saturday at 3.p.m. for the big game, Arnett says that one of his biggest goals is to enjoy it all.

Will Arnett poses with his dad James Arnett as Will is inducted into Canada’s Walk Of Fame in 2019.George Pimentel/Getty

George Pimentel/Getty

“I really, really want to have fun, and I want the fans to have fun,” he says.

“I’m just really looking forward to [it],” he says of the weekend. “Again, I wouldn’t have believed it if you had told me when I was a little kid that I would be able to be in this position, it’s nuts.”

source: people.com