According to a poll by the NHL Players Association, while NHL players don’t like playing against Brad Marchand of Boston Bruins, they would love him as a teammate.
The NHLPA’s annual Player Poll was released on Wednesday. It is an anonymous survey that surveyed 566 players across all 32 teams. The question asked, “Who do you enjoy playing against the most but would love to see on your team?” Marchand took 26.4% of votes, followed by Connor McDavid (18.3%), and Tom Wilson (10.7%).
McDavid was the winner of the poll for the best skater, winning 42.4%. Sidney Crosby from the Pittsburgh Penguins came in second with 17.3%. Crosby received 29.5% of votes, which is one of the most sought-after votes in the annual poll to determine the “most complete player”. Crosby was also named NHL’s best role-model (42.7%).
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks’ stickhandler, won a landslide victory with 57.3% vote. Leon Draisaitl (17.7%), Edmonton Oilers center, just edged Kane (15.6%), Capitals’ Nicklas backstrom (15.4%), and Kane for best stickhandler. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin won 53.1%, while Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs was second with 24.0%.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s two-time Stanley Cup champion, was named the goalie players want to play in a game that must be won with 37.4%, beating Carey Price of Montreal Canadiens (13.9%).
Other categories: Joe Pavelski, a Dallas Stars center and avid golf fan, was named the player most likely excel in another sport. Cody Eakin, a Buffalo Sabres hockey player was voted the best hockey hair and P.K. Subban was named the best social media user.
The superlatives categories voted Bell Centre in Montreal as having the best hockey (39.6%), Las Vegas was chosen as the city where players most desired to spend a full day (30.6%), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady was selected as the non-hockey player that players would most like swap places with.
The NHLPA named Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin (42.2%) as the world’s top women’s hockey player. This was ahead of Hilary Knight (20.7%), a Team USA star.