The National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) players poll was recently published. With the season on pause due to the world pandemic of COVID-19, the polls definitely had some good laughs in it. Among the polls were best forward, best defender, best/worst trash talker and some miscellaneous ones as well such as best ice to skate on and best visitor team locker room. So, let’s dive right in and look at the highlights of this year’s polls.

First up we got the best and worst trash talker, my personal favorite. What even is hockey without a little rivalry and trash talk? For those who don’t me, I’m from Boston, Massachusetts which is also home of the Boston Bruins. My favorite player on the team Brad Marchand won not only best trash talker, but also the worst trash talker as well. According to the poll, Marchand took 25.87% of the vote followed by Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings and then Ryan Reaves with 11.05% of the vote. Marchand, also known as “the little ball of hate” and “the rat,” 100% deserves the best trash talker. He has a way like no other to get into players’ heads. He even licked Ryan Callahan of the Tampa Bay Lighting in a game! Unless you are a Bruins fan you probably hate Marchand. The little ball of hate received 10.59% of the vote for worst trash talker followed by Doughty. I am puzzled as to why Marchand received this award but all I can say is that trash talking in sports is an art and you win some and you lose some battles but in the end you just got to get back up. P.K Subban I did not expect to receive any votes. When he was still in Montreal, I could actually see him being a good trash talker against the Bruins because their rivalry was in their prime then and everyone was talking good smack. Congrats Brad on back to back years of best and worst trash talkers.

The next poll, best forward in the league, is always a very hot poll that is changing. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers took home this award with a whopping 68.35% of the vote, followed by the Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins with 14.93% of the vote. I was shocked to hear that Alex Ovechkin wasn’t mentioned in the poll. If he was, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have gave McDavid a run for his money. McDavid hands down deserves the award this year though, his numbers have only been rising with the season on pause he had 45 goals, if there was no pause I believe he would have broken his season high record of 82 goals from the past two seasons. Crosby has not been having as great of a season this year which may have to do with his injury from earlier in the season. Crosby only has 16 goals this year. 

Carey Price of the Montreal Canadians won best goalie with 41.55% of the vote. Andre Vasilevskiy of the Lightning was runner up with 17.09% of the vote and Marc André Fleury with 8.93% and lastly Sergei Bobrovsky with 5.63% of the vote. Once again, another surprising poll. Price has not been the same for the past couple of years. The last time his team made the playoffs was 2017 and they lost in the first round to the New York Rangers. If anyone Fleury deserves this award, he has made some of the most ridiculous saves this year and has a save percentage of .913.

Moving to some off-ice polls, according to the NHLPA 73% of players would be in favor of relaxing game day dress code similar to the NBA while 27% of players said no. I believe players should have to dress however they feel. If they want to dress casually, let them. I’m intrigued to see if players will speak up about this hot topic soon.

Tomas Tatar from Montreal took home the best nickname with “tuna” recording 8.08% of the vote. David Pastarnak of the Bruins came up just short with “pasta” with 7.31% of the vote followed by the “breadman” Artemi Panarin of the Rangers with 5.77% of the vote and lastly Christian Fischer with the nickname “Stinky” got 2.69% of the vote. Nicknames is just another part of the game of hockey that makes it so great! 

Lastly, Subban took home best player to follow on social media with 13.59% of the vote. Subban’s social media page is always popping with unique stuff. You honestly never know what Subban is going to talk about every day on social media. If you aren’t following him and you’re a hockey fan, definitely give him a follow. Ovechkin was runner up with 6.31% of the vote. Marchand and Max Domi followed Ovechkin.

The final category the NHLPA examined arenas and teams.

Starting off with the best visitor team locker room, Edmonton Oilers Rogers Place swept the poll with 38.1% of the vote followed by T-Mobile Arena home of the Vegas Golden Knights with 26.47% of the vote.

Finally, the arena that has the best ice went to the Bell Centre of the Montreal Canadians with 31.75% of the vote. Once again, Rogers Place which seems to be a player favorite received 16.75% of the vote. Ice conditions is very important to players, each player has their preferences and if it’s not just right it can affect the players performance.

If you want to check out the rest of the featured polls, go to: https://www.nhlpa.com/player-poll/2019-20

Photo Courtesy of Jason Franson