Player poll reveals the NHL's best and worst trash talkers
The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) released the results of its annual player poll today.
Yes, hockey news, thank god.
A total of 588 NHL players were anonymously surveyed on 20 questions during their annual NHLPA team meetings, which took place throughout the 2019-20 season. Players were asked for their opinion on things like who is the NHL’s best forward, as well as off-ice topics like relaxing game-day dress code.
These are the results:
Best and worst trash talkers
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Players were asked who they thought the league’s best trash talker is, as well as who is the worst.
The answer to each question was the same: Brad Marchand.
Marchand earned 25.7% of the vote as the NHL’s best trash talker, and 11% as the worst trash talker. Guess it depends who you ask.
Drew Doughty also had the distinction of being both one of the best and worst trash talkers, coming in second place for both questions.
Other good trash talkers include Ryan Reaves (11.1%) and Patrick Maroon (3.8%), while PK Subban (6.9%) and Nick Cousins (5.6%) are viewed as two of the worst.
Funniest player
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Marchand and Doughty were both in the running for this distinction too, but Florida Panthers defenceman Keith Yandle (18%) is the funniest player in the NHL.
Best bromance
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Lots of variance in the answers to this question, but Stanley Cup champs David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly (6.5%) of the St Louis Blues have the best bromance in the league. Doughty and his arch nemesis Matthew Tkachuk (3.7%) hilariously finished third in voting.
Best nickname
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Hockey nicknames are known for being boring, but that doesn’t apply to Tomas “Tuna” Tatar (8.1%) of the Montreal Canadiens. Also interesting to note that the top three nicknames were food-related.
Christian “Stinky” Fischer deserved to win though.
Best team jersey
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NHL players are fans of Original Six jerseys apparently, as the Chicago Blackhawks (28.3%), Toronto Maple Leafs (6.8%), and New York Rangers (6.4%) cracked the top four.
Arena with the best ice
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The best ice in the NHL is found in Canada, as well as Las Vegas for some reason. Montreal’s Bell Centre led the way (31.8%), followed by Edmonton’s Rogers Place (16.8%), and Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg (11%).
Arena with best visitors dressing room
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No surprise here, as the top three visitors dressing rooms are found in the three newest NHL arenas: Edmonton’s Rogers Place (38%), Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena (26.5%), and Detroit’s Little Ceasars Arena (23.6%). Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena (6.8%) is the fifth-newest arena.
Best team mascot
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The only surprise here is that Gritty didn’t receive 100% of the vote.
Best social media follow
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As one of the most active social media users in the league, it’s no surprise that Subban (13.7%) was named the best follow in the league. Subban is the only active Canadian NHL player with over one million Twitter followers, and he’s honing in on that mark on Instagram too.
Best golfer
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You would think the best golfer would be a player that never makes the playoffs, but instead 16% agreed that Dallas Stars centre Joe Pavelski — who has missed the postseason just once during his 14-year NHL career — was the correct answer.
Relax game-day dress code?
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Players are required to wear a shirt and tie to games, which is something they’ve had to do since minor hockey. It appears they’re sick of it, as 73% of respondents were in favour of relaxing the dress code.
Players’ personalities expressed on-ice?
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Another fashion question, 53% of players said they would like to see players’ personalities expressed on-ice, with 43.6% in favour of personalized skates.
Best female hockey player
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Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin (40%) edged USA’s Hilary Knight (36.3%) as the best player in women’s hockey.
Past or present player you’d pay to see play
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No surprise that Wayne Gretzky (32.8%) won this one.
Best forward
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Now for the standard questions, Connor McDavid (68.3%) was the overwhelming choice as the NHL’s best forward.
Best defenceman
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Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman (37.8%) edged Washington’s John Carlson (21.4%) as the best defenceman.
Best goalie
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Despite less-than-stellar numbers the last few years, Carey Price (41.7%) is still regarded as the NHL’s top goaltender by his peers.
Most complete player
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Sidney Crosby might not be the best in the league any longer, but he is still the most complete player.
Player you want on your team if you need to win one game
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With three Stanley Cups won during his career, players said they preferred Crosby (44%) over McDavid (30.6%) as the player they want on their team if they needed to win just one game.