NHLPA Player Poll

[CarltonTheBear]

http://www.nhlpa.com/player-poll/2017-18

Some interesting results here. Carey Price was  named the toughest goalie to score on. Vasilevskiy wasn't even in the top-5. I'm guessing the poll was done before those behind-the-back glove saves were made.

Patrick Marleau was listed 5th in the "best role model" category. Go team dad! Martin was named the 5th "toughest player". Go former, worse team dad!

Matthews was voted 3rd in the "Which player would you select to start a franchise" question. McDavid somehow only got 48.6% of that vote, which seems absurd.

Erik Karlsson was named the toughest defenceman to play against, which actually surprises me. It's nice to see his peers give him some credit.

Babcock was voted the 4th in the "Which coach would you most like to play for" question, which goes against the notion that some have that players don't want to play for him. Assistant coach D.J. Smith was named the assistant who should be a head coach next season (although that was a pretty wide open field). I'd be ok with someone plucking him if it gave Sheldon Keefe a spot on the Leafs bench.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I was actually very surprised that there wasn't an Olympics questions here.

 

[Peter D.]

Matthews was voted 3rd in the "Which player would you select to start a franchise" question. McDavid somehow only got 48.6% of that vote, which seems absurd.

Yeah, I don't want to say I would expect it to be close to near unanimous with Crosby around, but 48.6% seems quite low. 

But the 3.1% who chose Toews stuck out even more like a sore thumb for me.  I could name a slew of players I'd select to start a franchise with over him.

If someone were to ask me who the fastest players in the league were, Nick Leddy would certainly not be coming out of my mouth.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

But the 3.1% who chose Toews stuck out even more like a sore thumb for me.  I could name a slew of players I'd select to start a franchise with over him.

You wouldn't want a soon-to-be 30-year old forward who hasn't broken 60-points in 3 seasons to start a franchise over with?

Toews' contract might not be at the very top, but it certainly has to at least be in the conversation for one of the worst contracts in the league at the moment.

 

[Zee]

But the 3.1% who chose Toews stuck out even more like a sore thumb for me.  I could name a slew of players I'd select to start a franchise with over him.

You wouldn't want a soon-to-be 30-year old forward who hasn't broken 60-points in 3 seasons to start a franchise over with?

Toews' contract might not be at the very top, but it certainly has to at least be in the conversation for one of the worst contracts in the league at the moment.

Does the question mean "who would you start your franchise with if all players were 18?"  Cause otherwise you obviously wouldn't pick anyone too old. 

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Does the question mean "who would you start your franchise with if all players were 18?"  Cause otherwise you obviously wouldn't pick anyone too old. 

The question specifically just says "Which player would you select to start a franchise?".

Work ethic, being a team player, honesty, loyalty, and respect were listed as the top-5 qualities players appreciate in a teammate. Ahead of, you know, being good at hockey. So I think that explains that.

 

[Kin]

The question specifically just says "Which player would you select to start a franchise?".

Work ethic, being a team player, honesty, loyalty, and respect were listed as the top-5 qualities players appreciate in a teammate. Ahead of, you know, being good at hockey. So I think that explains that.

Also, as much as we might think these guys are going to be dispassionate experts the truth is they can be swayed by reputation over current play as much as anyone.

It's like Gold Glove voting in Baseball, you'd like to think those guys would get it right over the media but not so much.

 

[Peter D.]

Does the question mean "who would you start your franchise with if all players were 18?"  Cause otherwise you obviously wouldn't pick anyone too old.

Even then, who in their right mind would take Toews over Crosby, McDavid, Malkin, Ovechkin, Matthews...(as a top 5 to start)

 

[Kin]

Does the question mean "who would you start your franchise with if all players were 18?"  Cause otherwise you obviously wouldn't pick anyone too old.

Even then, who in their right mind would take Toews over Crosby, McDavid, Malkin, Ovechkin, Matthews...(as a top 5 to start)

Guys who've been brought up in a hockey world where Glenn Anderson, Bob Gainey and Clark Gillies make the HOF.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Does the question mean "who would you start your franchise with if all players were 18?"  Cause otherwise you obviously wouldn't pick anyone too old.

Even then, who in their right mind would take Toews over Crosby, McDavid, Malkin, Ovechkin, Matthews...(as a top 5 to start)

Guys who've been brought up in a hockey world where Glenn Anderson, Bob Gainey and Clark Gillies make the HOF.

Also guys who've been brought up in a hockey world where Toews was named one of the league's top-100 players of all time over Malkin.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Matthews was voted 3rd in the "Which player would you select to start a franchise" question. McDavid somehow only got 48.6% of that vote, which seems absurd.

If this poll means all things being equal such as age, I'd take Crosby over him all day. Crosby is the better player.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Does the question mean "who would you start your franchise with if all players were 18?"  Cause otherwise you obviously wouldn't pick anyone too old.

Even then, who in their right mind would take Toews over Crosby, McDavid, Malkin, Ovechkin, Matthews...(as a top 5 to start)

While I may not pick him over most of those guys(I'd take him over Ovechkin), he does have 3 Stanley Cups.

And I'd take him over Ovechkin simply because of those Stanley Cups. I'd love to have Ovechkin on my team, don't get me wrong. His 40-50 goals a year is fantastic, but what I don't see is a lot of success out of the team that he was the "leader" on while he's been putting up all those goals and points. Ultimately, the SC is the goal for any NHL team.

 

[Bullfrog]

I honestly can't see how anyone could take Toews over one of the best goal scorers of all time.