Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby has been named the NHL “most complete player” in the league’s annual NHLPA poll. Crosby netted 38.4% of the vote for the honor with Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov coming in second with 14.6% of the votes.
Since the NHLPA began conducting the poll five years ago, Crosby has won the distinction every year. A total of 639 NHLPA members participated in the survey, and players from all 32 teams were polled.
Crosby also came in second (13.6%) regarding the question of “the player you’d most want to take a face-off on your team” as he finished just behind Nashville Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly (14.5%)
The Penguins center also finished second (11.6%) to Edmonton Oilers standout Connor McDavid (48.7%) as “the forward you’d want on your team if you needed to win one game.” McDavid also was named the “best stick handler” (35.5%), according to the results of the poll.
McDavid also earned second place when it comes to “which player do you least enjoy playing against, but would like to have on your team?” Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand earned that particular honor with 29.2% of the vote.
As far as goaltenders are concerned, Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy (46.9 %) earned the honor of the league’s top goalie.
At 36 years old, Crosby has still established himself as one of the NHL’s top players throughout the 2023-24 season. The Penguins center has tallied 86 points (40 goals & 46 assists) in 78 games this season, while being named to the 2024 All-Star Game earlier in the year.
