Auston Matthews and Sidney Crosby (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/6a67435a-23a7-41b6-aa0e-c93c7e336d75.jpeg] Auston Matthews and Sidney Crosby (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images) The NHL Players Association's annual player poll is back to show everyone what the athletes think. The poll [https://www.nhlpa.com/player-poll/2024-25] shines a light on players’ opinions on a bunch of topics, whether it’s about the top players by positions, the most stylish person, the best ice and more. Sidney Crosby finished ahead of Aleksander Barkov as the NHL's most complete player. Was Crosby the right choice? After this year’s player poll was released [https://www.nhlpa.com/player-poll/2024-25] Tuesday, three observations in particular were surprising. Let’s look at those surprises more closely. 1. Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl Not Top Five Forwards Toronto Maple Leafs [http://thn.com/toronto] center Matthews is having a down year – at least, for him – with 31 goals and 75 points in 65 games. That relative slump was reflected in player voting for the “best overall forward” category. Five other players – overwhelming first-place finisher Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers [http://thn.com/edmonton], Colorado Avalanche [http://thn.com/colorado] center Nathan MacKinnon, Tampa Bay [http://thn.com/tampabay] right winger Nikita Kucherov, Pittsburgh Penguins [http://thn.com/pittsburgh] captain Sidney Crosby and Minnesota Wild [http://thn.com/minnesota] left winger Kirill Kaprizov – comprised the top vote-getters in this category. Interestingly enough, Matthews did appear in the “most complete player” category, finishing fifth behind category-winner Crosby, Florida Panthers [http://thn.com/florida] captain Aleksander Barkov, MacKinnon and McDavid. So there is a respect NHL players still have for Matthews. But clearly, Matthews’ inability to stay healthy and his drop-off in goals from a career-high 69 goals last season contributed to missing out on the top five forwards category. Hart Trophy front-runner Leon Draisaitl also finished out of the top five in the “best overall forward” category, even though he leads the NHL in goals with 52 and ranks third in points with 106. He also has a 54.4 faceoff win percentage but didn’t make it on the “best face-off taker” list. He earned 6.83 percent of the vote for the NHL’s best playmaker question, but that was it. Is Oilers' Leon Draisaitl A Better Goal-Scorer Than Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews? Not Quite [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/2f73dac9-81be-4ffc-b789-6482cfa34aa9.jpeg] Is Oilers' Leon Draisaitl A Better Goal-Scorer Than Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews? Not Quite At the moment, there are only two active NHL players with three or more 50-plus-goal seasons: Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin and…wait, you were expecting us to say <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> captain Auston Matthews, weren’t you? [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/is-oilers-leon-draisaitl-a-better-goal-scorer-than-maple-leafs-auston-matthews-not-quite] 2. Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby Finishes First In Three Categories Crosby is now 37 years old, but he’s got 30 goals – the fourth-straight season he’s scored at least 32 – and 89 points in 79 games. The respect Crosby’s fellow NHLers have for him can be seen in his handful of top-five finishes in the player poll. Crosby finished first as the most complete player, first as the smartest overall player, first as the best faceoff-taker, fifth as the best playmaker and tied for fourth as the best overall forward. Crosby’s overall dominance continues to resonate, and given that he’s showing no signs of slowing down, you should bank on him getting more love in next year’s NHL player poll. He’s still as incredible as they come. 3. Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck Ranks Third For Best Overall Goalie Hellebuyck is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, and all he’s done since then is put up career-best numbers in wins (46) and goals-against average (2.02) while matching his career high in save percentage (.924). It’s hard to think of what more the 31-year-old goalie could’ve done for the Jets [http://thn.com/winnipeg], but somehow, NHL players picked him only third overall in the best overall goalie category. Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy finished first with 31.13 percent of the 636 votes, while New York Rangers [http://thn.com/nyrangers] goaltender Igor Shesterkin received 23.58 percent of the votes. Hellebuyck received 15.57 percent of the love. NHL Playoffs: Five Veterans With A Lot To Prove [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/a1ace20e-7db9-4d55-a5d8-0d43e36ff0e0.jpeg] NHL Playoffs: Five Veterans With A Lot To Prove Every NHL player has a lot to prove in the playoffs, but a handful of experienced post-season players have even more at stake this time around. [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/nhl-playoffs-five-veterans-with-a-lot-to-prove] In some regards, you can see why NHL players voted for Vasilevskiy, who has a 2.20 GAA and .921 SP this year on top of winning two Stanley Cups and a Vezina in his career. Shesterkin finishing second, however, was more surprising. He has had a subpar season by his standards on an underperforming Rangers squad, with a 2.91 GAA and .903 SP. It feels like Shesterkin got votes from players based more on his reputation than his performance this season. In any case, the 31-year-old Hellebuyck [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/winnipeg-jets/latest-news/is-a-hart-for-hellebuyck-that-far-fetched] has been so outstanding, he’s a front-runner for the Hart Trophy [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/top-five-nhl-hart-trophy-candidates-in-2024-25] – and with due respect to Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck should’ve been the players’ pick as best overall netminder. Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.
