The Predators were well represented and appreciated by fellow players in NHLPA Player Poll results.
The Predators were well represented and appreciated by fellow players in NHLPA Player Poll results.
Every year the NHLPA polls players on a variety of hockey-related questions and this year 639 players gave their answers. There are the obvious names you find on the results every year like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby, but the Nashville Predators got some attention this season with three different players appearing in the top-five for different questions.
The one question asked players specifically regarding goalies is: If you need to win one game, who is the goalie you want on your team? While Andrei Vasilevskiy won with 46.92% of the votes because he took the Tampa Bay Lightning to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and won two while winning the Vezina Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy in his career, Juuse Saros placed fifth.
Saros was voted by 4.87% of players and ranked behind Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, and Connor Hellebuyck as well. While Saros is having a bit of a down season overall by his standards seeing how he averaged a .920 SV% over the past three seasons, his .907 SV% is still respectable. He is very trusted in Nashville and has been stellar in the second half of the season. He also finished fifth in voting in 2021-22.
Moving on to a defensemen question, players were asked: If you need to win one game, who is the defenseman you want on your team? These results saw Roman Josi finish third with 4.52% of the votes behind only Cale Makar (56.38%) and Victor Hedman (10.50%). Josi is eight years older and doesn't have a Conn Smythe like Makar does, but he does have a 96-point season, one of only nine defenseman to ever do it in the NHL. Josi has been extremely valuable to the Predators this season and should be a finalist for the Norris Trophy at the very least.
The third and final Predators player to rank in the top-five in voting in one of the questions is Ryan O'Reilly. The question was: If you need to win a faceoff, who would you pick? O'Reilly received the most votes (14.49%), followed closely by Crosby (13.59%). This is not a surprise as O'Reilly has a 54.1 faceoff percentage this season and 55.7% over his entire career. He has won so many key draws for the Predators this season.
If these are some of the questions asked to players for the NHLPA Player Poll at the end of next season, expect to see all three of these players here again.
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