Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar and Andrei Vasilevskiy were big winners in the annual NHL Players' Association poll released Wednesday.
Crosby was voted the most complete player in the NHL for the fifth consecutive season, getting 38.37 percent of the vote. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain beat Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (14.6 percent), Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (8.15 percent) and McDavid, captain of the Oilers (7.81 percent).
Crosby leads the Penguins with 86 points (40 goals, 46 assists) in 78 games and has 1,588 points (590 goals, 998 assists) in 19 seasons, two behind Phil Esposito for 10th in NHL history. The 36-year-old center scored his 40th goal in a 5-4 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 6, reaching the mark for the third time.
The poll surveyed 639 NHL players on 15 hockey-related questions. Players gave their opinions on various topics, including top positional player, best playmaker, best style and toughest arena to play in.
McDavid was picked as the forward you want on your team if you need to win one game, with 48.71 percent of the vote. Crosby was second (11.58 percent), and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche was third (6.59 percent).
McDavid, third in the NHL with 130 points (31 goals, 99 assists) in 74 games this season, also was selected as the best stick-handler (35.53 percent).
Makar of the Colorado Avalanche was voted the defenseman you'd want in a must-win game (56.38 percent). Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning was second (10.5 percent), and Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators was third (4.52 percent). Makar also was deemed best breakout passer (26.56 percent).
Vasilevskiy of the Lightning was selected by players as the goalie they'd go to in a must-win game for the third consecutive season, and by a sizeable margin. He got 46.92 percent of the votes, followed by Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers (6.49 percent) and Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders (6.17 percent).
For the third straight season, Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand was named the player others least enjoyed competing against but would want on their team (29.19 percent), followed by McDavid (17.48 percent).
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, the NHL leader with 139 points (43 goals, 96 assists) in 77 games, was considered the best playmaker (28.47 percent), ahead of McDavid (20.91 percent). Hedman was voted most difficult player to face in their own end (20.32 percent), and Nashville Predators center Ryan O'Reilly was the player others would pick if a face-off win was needed (14.49 percent).
Bruins forward David Pastrnak was selected as the most stylish (15.02 percent), Marie-Philip Poulin, a forward with Montreal of the Professional Women's Hockey League was considered the PWHL player they most enjoyed watching (31.81 percent).
T-Mobile Arena was selected as the toughest to play in for a visiting team (31.36 percent), and Bell Centre is considered to have the best ice (34.48 percent).
Italy got 11.95 percent of the vote for the global destination most would like to see host NHL games.
