The Oilers are all over the 2019-20 NHL Player Poll

4 years ago

This afternoon, the NHL released the results from the 2019-20 NHL Player Poll that saw nearly 600 players participate in the annual survey, covering everything from the best forward to best uniform to the best road dressing room. This year, there are @Edmonton Oilers connections all over the place.

ON-ICE:

BEST FORWARD

Coming in with 68.35% of the vote, Connor McDavid was unsurprisingly voted as the league’s best forward. Surprised? You’re not, are you? That’s because Connor McDavid is hockey’s version of a juggernaut covered in laserbeams. This was an overwhelming victory for the Oilers captain seeing as the second place finisher, Sidney Crosby, was only able to generate 14.93% of the votes.

The Results:

@Connor McDavid – 68.35%
@Sidney Crosby – 14.93%
@Nathan MacKinnon – 6.65%
@Nikita Kucherov – 2.88%

BEST DEFENCEMAN

No love for the Oilers here, unfortunately. Though, maybe with the line of defensive prospects and youngsters that we’ve got coming down the pipe, that could change in the future? Dare to dream. Ethan Bear has my vote.

The Results:

@Victor Hedman – 37.88%
@John Carlson – 21.35%
@Roman Josi – 9.04%
@Drew Doughty – 6.54%
@Brent Burns – 6.54%

BEST GOALIE

To be honest, I’m just happy that this year’s results don’t feature @Devan Dubnyk among the top goaltenders because it still annoys me how MacT rattled his confidence before the season started in his final year with the Oilers. Such is life, I guess. That said, I don’t know what the players were doing with their votes this year because some of the finalists haven’t exactly had great seasons.

The Results:

@Carey Price – 41.55%
@Andrei Vasilevskiy – 17.09%
@Marc-Andre Fleury – 8.93%
@Sergei Bobrovsky – 5.63%

IF YOU NEED A WIN, WHO IS THE PLAYER YOU WANT?

It’s hard to argue with Sidney Crosby winning this category seeing as he’s won basically everything there is to win in hockey, but our boy coming in second place is certainly no surprise. For me, the only surprise here is that the other half of the dynamic duo wasn’t able to crack the top-four.

The Results:

Sidney Crosby – 44.03%
Connor McDavid – 30.53%
Nathan MacKinnon – 4.11%
@Patrice Bergeron – 3.33%

MOST COMPLETE PLAYER

Shut out again! Bullhooey. Though, it’s hard to argue with any of these four players getting the nod. If only in my heart, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gets my vote.

The Results:

Sidney Crosby – 45.56%
Patrice Bergeron – 25.44%
@Aleksander Barkov – 7.50%
@Ryan O’Reilly – 5.33%

BEST TRASH TALKER

Alright, this award is hilarious and you’ll know exactly why when you get to the results of the next one. Winner aside, I was happy to see some love going to our former friend, Pat Maroon. Gord knows how we still love him around these parts.

The Results:

@Brad Marchand – 25.87%
Drew Doughty – 13.37%
@Ryan Reeves – 11.05%
@Patrick Maroon – 3.78%

WORST TRASH TALKER

I love that the top two from the ‘Best Trash Talker’ category are also the top two in the ‘Worst Trash Talker’ department as well. I have to admit that I had a hearty chuckle about this one.

The Results:

Brad Marchand – 10.69%
Drew Doughty – 6.85%
@P.K. Subban – 6.85%
@Nick Cousins – 5.61%

PAST OR PRESENT: WHICH PLAYER WOULD YOU LIKE TO WATCH?

How about a round of applause for not one but TWO Edmonton Oilers cracking the list here? Of course, that’s an easy choice when you’re talking about two of the best players to ever lace them up. What makes McDavid’s inclusion even more impressive to me is that he’s the only finalist that currently plays while the other three are all Hall of Famers. You’ll get there, Connor. Just not yet.

The Results:

Wayne Gretzky – 31.83%
Bobby Orr – 14.99%
Mario Lemieux – 9.24%
Connor McDavid – 7.80%

PLAYER PERSONALITY EXPRESSED ON EQUIPMENT

Personally, I’d love to see players show a little bit more personality on their equipment and it was interesting to see how these guys think that could happen. So where would they like to show some individuality?

The Results:

Skates – 40.57%
Sticks – 4.72%
Helmet – 3.21%

BEST FEMALE HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE WORLD

The NHL has started to put a lot more effort into growing the female game and I was happy to see them include the ladies as part of this poll. So, according to the NHL players, who is the best female on ice?

The Results:

Marie-Philip Poulin (Canada) – 39.92%
Hilary Knight – (USA) – 36.29%
Kendall Coyle Schofield (USA) – 15.52%
Emily Matheson (USA) – 1.41%

OFF-ICE:

DO THE PLAYERS WANT A MORE RELAXED DRESS CODE

I’m all for relaxing the dress code and letting these guys show some personality. Frankly, I don’t care if the guys show up in a giant Duck costume like they’re Elton John in the 70s so long as they win hockey games.

The Results:

Yes – 73.00%
No – 27.00%

FUNNIEST PLAYER

This one is basically impossible for any of us to really comment on seeing as we don’t know the players at all, so my suggestion would be to have the winner of this category perform some kind of joke to give us all a laugh in these troubling times. Maybe next year.

The Results:

@Keith Yandle – 17.98%
Drew Doughty – 6.94%
Brad Marchand – 5.68%
@Phil Kessel – 4.73%

BEST BROMANCE

This award pissed me off because Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the dynamic duo that everyone has been talking about all season long, doesn’t even get a sniff in the top five. Adding salt to my made-up wound, one of the included pairings has often talked about how much they hate each other, though, that does make their inclusion kinda hilarious.

The Results:

@David Perron & Ryan O’Reilly – 6.42%
@Joe Thornton & Brent Burns – 5.05%
@Auston Matthews & @Mitch Marner – 4.59%
@Matthew Tkachuk & Drew Doughty – 3.67%
@Jamie Benn & @Tyler Seguin – 3.67%

BEST ON SOCIAL MEDIA

I’ll be honest with you guys. I knew that the Oilers didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell at winning this award since none of our players are necessarily known for their social game. That said, I’d like to see some improvement in this department which is certainly something to work on for next year.

The Results:

P.K. Subban – 13.59%
@Alex Ovechkin – 6.31%
Brad Marchand – 4.37%
@Max Domi – 4.37%

PLAYER THAT ISN’T ON SOCIAL MEDIA BUT SHOULD BE

Do you know anyone that is sneaky funny and would probably get a lot of love on social media if they chose to be a part of it? Of course you do — we all do! As a result, I’m intrigued by what’s going on with Tyler Ennis that caused 5.46% of the voters to say that he should open up a Twitter/Instagram account. Does our boy have jokes? Is he a closeted meme lord? We need to get to the bottom of this.

The Results:

Sidney Crosby – 25.68%
Joe Thornton – 7.10%
@Tyler Ennis – 5.46%
@Jay Bouwmeester – 3.83%

BEST NICKNAME

Looking at the winners from this category, I can’t tell if these guys actually have good nicknames or if it’s just that hockey players are so lazy when it comes to giving them out that even something remotely clever looks genius.

The Results:

Tomas “Tuna” Tatar – 8.08%
David “Pasta” Pastrnak – 7.31%
Artemi “Breadman” Panarin – 5.77%
Christian “Stinky” Fischer – 2.69%

BEST GOLFER

Can I be the first to say that Justin Schultz is on the list from his time in Edmonton when he had more time to practice his golf game? I did it! Actually, I’m kinda surprised that there aren’t more Oilers connections on this list for that exact reason. Hmm. I learned something today.

The Results:

@Joe Pavelski – 15.84%
@Tyler Bozak – 5.57%
@Justin Schultz – 4.11%
@Cal Clutterbuck – 3.81%
@Mark Stone – 3.81%
@Greg McKegg – 3.81%

ARENAS AND TEAMS:

BEST VISITORS DRESSING ROOM

Damned right, we’re number one! I mean, you’d have to think that one of the newest arenas in the league would feature some of the best amenities, don’t you think? Sucks to be you, Detroit.

The Results:

Rogers Place (Edmonton) – 38.01%
T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas) – 26.47%
Little Caesars Arena (Detroit) – 23.30%
PPG Paints Arena (Pittsburgh) – 6.79%

BEST JERSEY

Since I was a little kid, I’ve always thought that the Chicago Blackhawks had cool jerseys and so it wasn’t exactly surprising to see them run away with this one. What I learned from this category is that the NHL players are all fans of the classics… well… except for Vegas, of course.

The Results:

Chicago Blackhawks – 28.25%
Vegas Golden Knights – 6.83%
Toronto Maple Leafs – 6.83%
New York Rangers – 6.38%

WHICH ARENA HAS THE BEST ICE

As much as we complain about the puck bouncing around at Rogers Place, it’s clear from the voting that Edmonton still has some of the best ice around. Though, based on the percentages, you have to wonder what’s going on in Montreal that the rest of the league can’t figure out?

The Results:

Bell Centre (Montreal) – 31.75%
Rogers Place (Edmonton) – 16.75%
Bell MTS Place (Winnipeg) – 11.00%
T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas) – 8.75%

BEST MASCOT

I mean… was there ever any doubt about Gritty winning this one? That said, I do think it’s bullshit that Hunter didn’t even get a sniff in the top-five. The way he runs up and down the handrailing while also sporting one of the best six-packs in the league deserves more love imo.

The Results:

Gritty (Flyers) – 69.72%
Gnash (Predators) – 2.80%
Howlers (Coyotes) – 2.80%
Bailey (Kings) – 2.54%
Youppi (Canadiens) – 2.29%

Were there any awards or recipients that you think were wrong? Anywhere you think an Oiler or two could have slid in as a finalist? Let me know in the comments section.

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