NEWSLETTER
The annual NHL Players Association player poll was released on Thursday morning, you can see the full voting results from it here. Among the categories voted upon, players named who has the best shot, is the best defenseman, is the most complete player, is the bets goal-scorer, and who is the best dressed in the league, among many others.
The Chicago Blackhawks were represented in this year’s NHLPA Player Poll solely by Patrick Kane. The 32-year-old winger was voted by the players as the NHL’s best stick-handler, receiving 49.48% of the votes, leading Edmonton’s Connor McDavid with 25.79% in second-place. Kane was also voted as the second-best passer in the league with 20.30% of the vote. He finished second behind Washington’s Niklas Backstrom, barely, who won with 20.72% of the votes. Kane was also one of the top six players receiving votes in the category for “player you most want on your team when you need to win one game.” Kane finished sixth in that category with 3.48% of the vote, with McDavid leading that category with 36.74% of the vote.
The Patrick Kane spin-o-rama has returned pic.twitter.com/XIZ2C1q770
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 20, 2021
Other notables from the voting results included Auston Matthews beating out Alexander Ovechkin as the league’s best goal-scorer, Victor Hedman receiving 64.71% of the vote as the league’s best defenseman, and David Pastrnak winning the most unique stick tape job in the league with 42.32% of the vote.
https://twitter.com/TheAthletic/status/1363218209600643072?s=20
Players also voted on non-player specific topics, including naming the Colorado Avalanche as having the best Reverse Retro sweaters, and a two-thirds majority of players not wanting to continue the division-only scheduling but wanting to keep the series-style scheduling moving forward. I tend to agree on all three of those categories as well.
