The center for the Pittsburgh Penguins led with 29.5 percent of the votes. He's scored 84 points (31 goals, 53 assists) in 68 games to help the Penguins clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff berth for the 16th consecutive season, the longest streak among teams in the major North American sports leagues, ahead of the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer (13 seasons). The run began in 2006-07 when Crosby was in his second NHL season and center Evgeni Malkin was a rookie.
Crosby, Pittsburgh captain since 2007, has won three Stanley Cup championships (2009, 2016, 2017) and two Hart Trophy awards voted as NHL most valuable player (2007, 2014). His quest for a fourth NHL title starts next week when the Penguins (45-25-11) play either the New York Rangers or the Florida Panthers in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round.
Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (20.5 percent) was runner-up with his Florida-high 39 goals, the most in his NHL career and a big reason why the Panthers (57-17-6) lead the Colorado Avalanche (56-18-6) by two points for the Presidents' Trophy, given to the team with the best regular-season record. Patrice Bergeron (19.5 percent) was third with the Boston Bruins (50-25-5) on track to earn the first wild card into the playoffs from the East.
Though Crosby was voted the most complete player, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid was voted the one skater a player would want on their team if he needed to win one game. McDavid earned 42.4 percent of the votes, ahead of Crosby (17.3 percent) and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (6.7 percent). The Oilers captain has scored an NHL-high 122 points (44 goals, 78 assists) in 79 games, the most by an Edmonton skater in a season since Mark Messier scored 129 points (45 goals, 84 assists) in 79 games in 1989-90.
McDavid's game-breaking ability will lead the Oilers (47-27-6) when they play the Los Angeles Kings (43-27-10) in the Western Conference First Round. He scored six points (three goals, three assists) in four games against the Kings this season and has scored 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 24 games against them since joining the NHL after he was the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy voted as playoff MVP (2021) and the Vezina Trophy (2019) voted as the best goalie in the NHL, more than enough for the panel to name him the goalie they'd want on their team with one game to win. Vasilevskiy earned 37.4 percent of the votes, ahead of Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens (13.9 percent) and Marc-Andre Fleury of the Minnesota Wild (6.7 percent), with the Lightning (50-22-8) likely to finish third in the Atlantic Division and hoping to win the Cup for the third consecutive season.
The Wild (51-22-7) will play the St. Louis Blues in the first round and Fleury has the track record to be a difference-maker and help the Wild win the Stanley Cup for the first time. A three-time Cup champion with the Penguins (2009, 2016, 2017) is 8-2-0 with a 2.91 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 10 games since he was traded to Minnesota by the Chicago Blackhawks on March 21. His 519 wins are third in NHL history (Martin Brodeur, 691; Patrick Roy, 551) and he's 90-70 with 16 shutouts (third all-time behind Brodeur, 24, and Roy, 23) in the postseason.
No player is least enjoyable to play against than Bruins forward Brad Marchand, but he's the one an opponent would most want on their team, according to 26.4 percent of the votes. Marchand's combination of skill and grit put him ahead of McDavid (18.3 percent) and Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson (10.7 percent).
Marie-Philip Poulin again lived up to her reputation as "Captain Clutch" when she helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with two goals in a 3-2 win against the United States in the championship game. Her 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) also helped make the forward the panel's choice for best current women's hockey player. Poulin got 43.2 percent of the votes followed by United States forward Hilary Knight (20.7 percent) and teammate Amanda Kessel (6.2 percent).
