It is no secret that fans and media alike are constantly giving their opinions on matters. During any given NHL game you can login to Twitter and see opinions being given by fans, bloggers, and the main stream media, heck even some times you can catch an opinion from one team on the contract a rival team offers a player.
Fans will battle among themselves as to who is the greatest skater or the toughest player; but what do the players have to say?
The NHLPA conducted a poll, in conjunction with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, on some of the toughest questions about players in the league today; now we can take a look at where the Detroit Red Wings really fall in the minds of the players.
Skills:
Hardest Shot – Zdeno Chara (BOS) 59%
-No Red Wings in the Runners Up
Who is the Best Skater – Marian Gaborik (NYR) 33%
-Darren Helm came in 5th behind Runners Up Sidney Crosby, Patrick Marleau and Duncan Keith with 5% of the vote.
-Red Wings Captain Nicklas Lidstrom took 15% of the vote to put him in third while separated from teammate Datsyuk by only Sidney Crosby.
Who is the Toughest Player – Milian Lucic (BOS) 20%
-No Red Wings Runners Up
Who is the Most Difficult Player to Play Against – Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 26%
-No Red Wings Runners Up
Which Player is the Hardest to Take the Puck From – Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 47%
-No Red Wings Runners Up
Asked to Skaters Only: Which Goalie is the Most Difficult to Score On – Henrik Lindquist (NYR) 38%
-Jimmy Howard was the last Runner Up with 3% of the vote coming in behind Pekka Rinne, Tim Thomas, Carey Price and Mikka Kiprusoff.
Who is the Fastest Skater – Marian Gaborik (NYR) 32%
-Darren Helm was the second Runner Up with 10% of the vote.
Asked to Goalies Only: Which Player is the Most Difficult to stop? Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 24%
-No Red Wings Runners Up
Opinions:
Who is the Most Underrated Player – Patrice Bergeron (BOS) 9%
-No Red Wings made the list – but I am going to add an honorable mention for Valtteri Filppula and Tomas Holmstrom as those outside of Detroit (and often even in Detroit do not recognize them).
Which Current Player is the Best Role Model – Nicklas Lidstrom (DET) 23%
-No other Red Wings listed; but Sidney Crosby got 20% of the vote.
Who is the cleanest player to play against – Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 21%
-Nicklas Lidstrom had 13% of the vote for third while Henrik Zetterberg had 4% of the vote to tie with Jets Kyle Wellwood for 5th in voting.
Which Current Player would you Select to start a Franchise Sidney Crosby (PIT) 41%
-Pavel Datsyuk came in third with 6% of the vote.
Who is the toughest defenseman to play against – Zdeno Chara (BOS) 61%
-Nicklas Lidstrom came in at third with 6% of the vote.
Who is the toughest to play against – Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 25%
-No Red Wings Runners up.
Which team is overrated – Vancouver Canucks 24%
-Not shockingly the Red Wings were not Runners Up.
Which team is underrated – St. Louis Blues 28%
-Again… not shockingly the Red Wings were not Runners Up; however the Predators took second so it looks as though the players think the Central Division is underrated.
Who is the best Referee – Paul Devorsi 19%
Coaches:
Which Coach would you most like to play for – Dan Bylasma (PIT) 21%
-Head Coach Mike Babcock tied Dave Tippett for third with 8% of the vote.
Which Coach Demands the Most of His Players – John Tortorella (NYR) 59%
-Babcock dropped to 7% in voting and came in behind Daryl Sutter and Ken Hitchcock whom tied for 8%
Which current assistant coach should be the next head coach – Brad Shaw (STL) 7%
-With two new assistant coaches this season it should not be a shock that the Red Wings did not have a representative on this list.
-With 6% of the vote Joe Louis Arena came in 4th in player voting to be their favorite arena to play in.
Which Rink has the Best Ice? Rexall Place (EDM) 47%
-I found this question to be fun. Here is the run down on the Runners Up:
Bell Centre (Montreal) – 15%
Joe Louis Arena (Detroit) – 10%
Rogers Arena (Vancouver) – 5%
MTS Centre (Winnipeg) – 5%
Scotiabank Saddle dome (Calgary) – 3%
Which Rink has the Worst Ice – Bank Atlantic Center (FLA) 18%
-Followed by the Tampa Bay Times Forum… what is this you say? The ice isn’t any good in Florida? WhodaThunkIt.
What team would you like to play on? Chicago Blackhawks 14%
-Detroit came in second with 13% of the vote.
Which Canadian City deserves an NHL Franchise – Quebec City, Hamilton, or a 2nd team in Toronto – Quebec City 74%
-Guess it is a good thing they are building an arena.
Want to check out the rest of the results? Head over to the Players Poll .
Rexall is still being listed as the ‘best ice’? Really, it’s been subpar since the 2006 Olympics (not entirely, perhaps, a coincidence). I suspect a good chunk of the votes regarding Rexall comes from a bit of expectation bias (where people heard Rexall has good ice, skate on it and must be convinced its true, and then report same in surveys).
Well it is the players that are voting so I am assuming they look personally at where they have skated. Maybe it goes to say where the “random” selection of players came from? At the sametime a lot of East bias in the player catagories. No way to know who the players were that voted but it is interesting to get their perspective. If you go to the link to the results they also have last years still up to compair.