NHLers vote for Ovechkin as the best player again

From TSN.CA, March 28, 2010:

Who's the best player in the National Hockey League? The dirtiest? The most overrated? Which team will win the Cup this year?

These questions - normally reserved for rabid debate among hockey pundits and fans of the game - were posed to the players themselves by ESPN the Magazine, which recently conducted an anonymous poll of 50 NHLers.

The results were likely more candid than if players had been asked the same questions "on the record", and while some answers can certainly be filed under the category of "less than shocking", others are somewhat surprising and revelatory.

Here are some of the results:

64% of players said that Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin was the best player in the sport; the Pens' Sidney Crosby was second but it wasn't a particularly close race, with the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native receiving 24% of the vote.



A list of some selected results from the poll:

BEST PLAYER
Alex Ovechkin 64%
Sidney Crosby 24%
Evgeni Malkin, Henrik Zetterberg 4%
Pavel Datsyuk, Joe Thornton 2%

MOST OVERRATED
Roberto Luongo 6%
Vincent Lecavalier, Dion Phaneuf, Jay Bouwmeester, Sean Avery 4%

BEST FRANCHISE
Detroit 60%
Pittsburgh 14%
Montreal 12%
New Jersey 8%
NY Rangers, Chicago 4%

WORST FRANCHISE
Phoenix 28%
Atlanta 18%
Islanders 14%
Edmonton 12%
Florida 10%

WHO WILL WIN THE STANLEY CUP?
Chicago 32%
Pittsburgh, San Jose 16%
Washington 14%
Detroit, New Jersey 8%

And some other highlights:

Toughest fighter: Derek Boogaard
Dirtiest player: Chris Pronger
Smartest Coach: Mike Babcock, Red Wings 22%
Last coach they would want to play for: John Tortorella, Rangers 18%

Grade Gary Bettman should get as commish: 30% said "C"

Read more...

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