RALEIGH, NC. - The NHL Players Association published the results from its 2023-24 player survey on Wednesday, as 639 players answered a variety of different hockey-related questions.
Among them, Jaccob Slavin, Jordan Staal, and PNC Arena each finished within the top five vote-getters of certain questions.
Slavin received 7.90% of the vote from players asked which player is the most difficult player to face in their own end, trailing only Victor Hedman and Connor McDavid.
The trusty defender ranks second in the NHL with 70 takeaways this season, just one off of the league's leader, Colton Parayko.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Slavin is tied with Auston Matthews (423) for the most among all skaters.
Staal ranked tied for fourth when players were asked who they would pick if they needed to win a faceoff.
Ranking seventh league-wide with a win percentage of 58.3% (min. 500 faceoffs), the Captain has been clutch in the offensive zone this season, winning 61.4% of his draws there.
Perhaps even more impressively, there have been 32 centers in the NHL who have taken 10,000 faceoffs or more since Staal joined Carolina in 2012. Of all of them, he ranks third in the offensive zone, trailing only Jonathan Toews (60.3%) and Patrice Bergeron (60.1%) with his 59.3% success rate.
And lastly, PNC Arena was voted the second toughest arena to play in as a visiting team. Receiving 16.31% of the vote, only T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas received more (31.36%).
The Canes went 27-10-4 on home ice this season, the second-most wins among all NHL teams in their own building at the moment.
Since Rod Brind'Amour took over as head coach ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, Carolina is 147-56-22 in Raleigh, the third-most wins at home among all NHL clubs.
