NHL Players See Crosby For What He is (It’s a Good Thing)

The 2023-24 annual NHL Players Association Poll, always a fun look into the minds of those who play at the highest level, was released Wednesday. In no surprise, Pittsburgh Penguins center and captain Sidney Crosby received a deserved spot in one of the answers.

Crosby was voted by his peers as the most complete player, and it wasn’t particularly close. He got 38.37% of the vote, with Florida’s Aleksander Barov second at 14.60%.

The reason it’s no surprise, even beyond his numbers and the eye test and things such as Penguins coach Mike Sullivan often calling Crosby the best 200-foot player in the game? This is the fifth straight time he had finished first in that category. And he even increased his margin, getting 226 votes, 48 more than he got last season.

The players were polled during the first half of the season, so before this tear Crosby has been on as the Penguins try to get into the playoffs.

Crosby also finished second in two questions.

Asked, If you need to win one game, who is the forward you want on your team? Crosby garnered 11.58% of the votes, with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid finishing first at 48.71%. Asked, If you need to win a faceoff, who would you pick? Crosby got 13.59% of the vote, behind Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly, 14.49%.

The only other Penguins player to appear in the poll is defenseman Erik Karlsson, who finished fifth with 8.06% of the votes in the question, Who is the best breakout passer in the game?

OK, this has been your fun distraction from the tense playoff race. For the full results of the poll, click here.