Auston Matthews has the best shoe game, Leon Draisaitl is the best passer and Connor McDavid is the overwhelming favourite as the player to have with a win on the line, according to the latest NHLPA player poll.
The results, released Wednesday, were gathered from 626 players from all 32 NHL teams in anonymous surveys over the first three months of the season. The players were asked 14 questions covering a variety of on- and off-ice hockey topics.
On the ice, in addition to McDavid, the players voted Andrei Vasilevskiy as the top goalie with a win on the line and Cale Makar as the defenceman they’d want.
Joining Draisaitl in the skills category was Patrick Kane, who was named the best stick-handler, Sidney Crosby as the most complete player, Brad Marchand as the opponent whom his peers would most like as a teammate, Joe Pavelski as the player who has the biggest effect on the game around the net, Aleksander Barkov as most underrated and Marie-Philip Poulin as the top women’s player.
And as far as the ice itself is concerned, Montreal’s Bell Centre was voted as having the top surface in the league, with Edmonton’s Rogers Arena a distant second.
Off the ice, Marc-Andre Fleury was voted best guy to have in the dressing room, edging out Phil Kessel. David Pastrnak was second to Matthews when it comes to the shoe game.
And, perhaps not surprisingly, Las Vegas was voted best road city to visit, far out-pacing second-place New York. A Canadian city did not make the top five.
