NHL.com players poll: Blackhawks goal song best in League

NHL.com asked 48 of the League's top players for their opinions on topics surrounding the game and its players during the 2019 NHL European and North American Player Media Tours during the offseason. An installment of their answers will run each Wednesday. This edition of the NHL.com players poll focuses on which arena has the best goal song or goal celebration in the League.

"Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis has been the goal song for the Chicago Blackhawks since late in the 2007-08 season. And it is the most iconic such song among the 31 NHL teams, by a long shot, according to the players.

"I hate hearing it, but it is nice," Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba said. "But I don't want to hear it all year. It's brutally good. I can hear it right now."
Calgary Flames forward Sam Bennett also didn't hesitate when asked which arena had the best goal celebration.
"I always think about Chicago," he said. "It's not a good feeling when you hear that song come on and all the fans are singing along. That's a tough one to hear."
"Chelsea Dagger" was selected by 41 percent of the respondents (18 of 44) as the best goal song or celebration in the NHL.
Granted, two of the 18 voters for the United Center celebrations were Blackhawks -- forwards Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat -- but that left 16 selecting a song that likely serves as nightmare fuel for them.
That is how deeply the song has been identified with the Blackhawks in the past decade-plus when they have won the Stanley Cup three times (2010, 2013 and 2015).
"Have to go with Chicago, right?" Kane said. "I feel like that's the most known. Maybe that's me being biased, but yeah, it's stuck for a long time. So I'll go with the 'Chelsea Dagger.'"
No other song or celebration received more than five votes, with the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights tying for second place.
The Predators play "I Like It, I Love it," by country artist Tim McGraw, a big fan of theirs.

If that weren't enough, after the song ends, the crowd mercilessly taunts the just-beaten goalie by chanting his name and telling him it's all his fault over and over.
Yet Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson was one of the players who tabbed Bridgestone Arena as owning his favorite goal song or celebration.
"I think in Nashville when they go at the goalie and everything like that, I remember playing them in the playoffs and it's cool," he said. "You hear it, but that's the atmosphere you want to be playing in and it's fun when the stakes are high."
Not all goalies agree.
"As a goalie, none of them," said Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars. "Check that. Dallas. I love that one. It means we scored."
For those who like it loud, T-Mobile Arena, home of the Golden Knights is the place to be.
Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews said he couldn't recall the song that plays when the home team scores there, but he vividly remembered the aftermath of each goal against there.
"What's the song in Vegas?" Toews said. "I just feel the place goes nuts."
By the way, the song is "Vegas Lights" by Panic! At The Disco, a band based in Las Vegas.
Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault has played for three other teams -- the Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning -- but he is not surprised by the love for Vegas during its first three seasons.
"It's the best arena in the world," he said.

The Blue Jackets only got one vote, and it was from their own player, so loudness is not the only criteria, it seems. At Nationwide Arena, each home goal is celebrated with a cannon blast.
"The cannon, it's unique," Columbus defenseman Markus Nutivaara said. "Other players say they always hate the cannon. It's crazy loud."
Count Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins among the haters. His pick was "Chelsea Dagger," but the cannon received a dishonorable mention.
"Every time they score, you know it's coming, but still you'll jump every time you hear it," he said.
Arizona Coyotes center Derek Stepan said he feels Nugent-Hopkins' pain.
"I can tell you one I don't like is Columbus, because that thing scares me every time," said Stepan, who picked the Coyote Howl at Gila River Arena as his favorite goal celebration. "I'm ready for it, and it still scares me."
Some visiting players, it seems, don't hear anything when a goal is scored by the home team.
"I don't even remember some of the team's goal songs, I just shut my ears when they play them," New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt said.
Others hear it, but don't get all the fuss.
"I think they're all kind of similar," Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said. "Some song comes on and the fans go crazy."

Best goal song/celebration voting (44 total votes, four abstentions)

Chicago Blackhawks 18; Nashville Predators, 5; Vegas Golden Knights 5; New York Rangers 4, Boston Bruins 3; Montreal Canadiens, 2; Arizona Coyotes 1; Buffalo Sabres, 1; Colorado Avalanche, 1; Columbus Blue Jackets 1; Dallas Stars, 1; Philadelphia Flyers 1; San Jose Sharks, 1.