The Hockey News Polls

[digitalmonkey 929]

For our April 3 issue cover story, The Hockey News polled players from all 30 NHL clubs - 283 NHLers in total - to find out their thoughts on the game. Here are their responses:Compared to 2005-06, how is the NHL product this season? 1) About the same (167) 62% 2) Better (84) 31%3) Worse (20) 7%How do you feel about the NHL schedule format? 1) There should be more games against the other conference (248) 89% 2) Like it the way it is (25) 9%3) There should be fewer games against the other conference (6) 2%What would you do to change the shootout? 1) Nothing, it¹s fine the way it is (197) 70%2) Expand it to five shooters per side (58) 21%3) Abolish it (25) 9%Would you consider a shorter regular season knowing it would mean 10 to 15 per cent less revenue from gate receipts? 1) No (175) 63% 2) Yes (103) 37%What should the NHL do about the delay-of-game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass? 1) Keep it as is: a two-minute minor (128) 46%2) Treat it like an icing: no line change for offending team (110) 40%3) Revert to the way it used to be: no penalty (38) 14%Are you open to the idea of bigger nets? 1) No (236) 84%2) Yes (44) 16% Do you think a point should be awarded for an overtime/shootout loss? 1) Yes (210) 75% 2) No (70) 25%What is an appropriate penalty for fighting? 1) 5 minutes (273) 97%2) 10 minutes (5) 2%3) 20 minutes (3) 1%4) Game misconduct (0)Would you rather see a fourth-line roster spot go to: 1) An enforcer (177) 66%2) A skilled player who can play the power play and participate in theshootout (93) 34%Would you support increasing the number of teams in the playoffs? 1) No (223) 79%2) Yes (59) 21% If you could play for any NHL team (other than your own), which would you choose? 1) Toronto Maple Leafs (34) 14.4%2) New York Rangers (29) 12.3%3) Detroit Red Wings (19) 8%4) Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks (18) 7.6%5) Dallas Stars (15) 6.3%6) Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens (14) 5.9%7) Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning (10) 4.2%8) Phoenix Coyotes (9) 3.8%9) Calgary Flames (8) 3.4%10) Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers (5) 2.1%11) Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins (4) 1.7%12) Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks (3) 1.2%13) Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres (2) 0.85%14) Carolina Hurricane and Edmonton Oilers (1) 0.42%To what city would you least like to be traded? 1) Buffalo Sabres (40) 16%2) Edmonton Oilers (28) 11.2%3) New York Islanders (24) 9.6%4) Pittsburgh Penguins (18) 7.2%5) Florida Panthers (17) 6.8%6) Carolina Hurricanes and St. Louis Blues (13) 5.2%7) Washington Capitals (12) 4.8%8) New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers (9) 3.6%9) Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens (8) 3.2%10) Calgary Flames (7) 2.8%11) Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings (6) 2.4%12) Nashville Predators (5) 2%13) Los Angeles Kings and Ottawa Senators (4) 1.6%14) Philadelphia Flyers and Phoenix Coyotes (3) 1.2%15) Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs (2) 0.8%16) Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning (1) 0.4%What is the toughest building to play in on the road? 1) Detroit Red Wings (41) 16.4%2) Calgary Flames (37) 14.8%3) Montreal Canadiens (25) 10%4) San Jose Sharks (21) 8.4%5) Philadelphia Flyers (14) 5.6%6) Toronto Maple Leafs (13) 5.2%7) Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils (12) 4.8%8) Ottawa Senators (9) 3.6%9) Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators (7) 2.8%10) Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers (6) 2.4%11) Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins (5) 2%12) Tampa Bay Lightning (4) 1.6%13) Vancouver Canucks (3) 1.2%14) Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals (2) 0.8%15) Atlanta Thrashers, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings (1) 0.4%Who is the best player in the NHL this season? 1) Sidney Crosby (144) 56%2) Joe Thornton (20) 7.7%3) Vincent Lecavalier (14) 5.4%4) Marian Hossa (13) 5%5) Nicklas Lidstrom (12) 4.6%6) Martin Brodeur, Alexander Ovechkin and Roberto Luongo (8) 3.1%7) Teemu Selanne and Martin St. Louis (4) 1.5%8) Daniel Briere and Jaromir Jagr (3) 1.16%9) Peter Forsberg, Evgeni Malkin Scott Niedermayer (2) 0.77%10) Erik Cole, Pavel Datsyuk, Rory Fitzpatrick, Eric Goddard, Josh Green, Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano, Ryan Miller, Brian Rolston and Henrik Zetterberg (1) 0.38%Who is the most respected player in the NHL? 1) Joe Sakic (166) 63%2) Nicklas Lidstrom (30) 11.4%3) Brendan Shanahan (19) 7.2%4) Martin Brodeur and Chris Chelios (7) 2.6%5) Rod Brind’Amour, Jarome Iginla and Scott Niedermayer (6) 2.2%6) Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr (3) 1.1%7) Teemu Selanne and Mats Sundin (2) 0.76%8) Zdeno Chara, Rob Blake and Martin St. Louis (1) 0.38%Who is the most hated player in the NHL? 1) Sean Avery (168) 66.4%2) Jordin Tootoo (14) 5.5%3) Darcy Tucker (9) 3.5%4) Jarkko Ruutu (8) 3.1%5) Marc Savard (7) 2.7%6) Chris Neil (6) 2.3%7) Sidney Crosby (5) 1.9%8) Donald Brashear and Matt Cooke (4) 1.5%9) Matthew Barnaby, Jason Blake, Zdeno Chara, Ben Eager, Steve Ott and Brendan Shanahan (2) 0.79%10) Derek Boogaard, Dany Heatley, Ryan Hollweg, Sean Hill, Cam Janssen, Paul Kariya, Ryan Kesler, Kirk Maltby, Dominic Moore, Steve Ott, Michael Peca, Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger, Maxime Talbot, Raffi Torres, Ryan Whitney and Brandon Witt (1) 0.39%Who is the most overrated player in the NHL? 1) Sean Avery (17) 8.5%2) Bryan McCabe and Brad Richards (16) 8%3) Pavel Kubina (9) 4.5%4) Marc Savard (8) 4%5) Jaromir Jagr (7) 3.5%6) Shane Doan and Ed Jovanovski (6) 3%7) Jonathan Cheechoo (5) 2.5%8) Todd Bertuzzi, Kevin Bieksa, Rick DiPietro, Bobby Holik, Sheldon Souray and Alexei Yashin (4) 2%9) Sergei Fedorov, Hal Gill, Derian Hatcher, Cristobal Huet, Dion Phaneuf, Sergei Samsonov, Jeremy Roenick and Saku Koivu (3) 1.5%10) Jay Bouwmeester, Dan Cloutier, Sidney Crosby, Adam Foote, Shawn Horcoff, Olli Jokinen, Paul Kariya, Olaf Kolzig, Rick Nash, Marcus Naslund, Petr Nedved, Vaclav Prospal, Jose Theodore, Joe Thornton, Darcy Tucker and Marty Turco (2) 1%11) Daniel Alfredsson, Patrice Bergeron, Joel Bouchard, Jason Blake, Martin Brodeur, Anson Carter, Zdeno Chara, Mike Comrie, Peter Forsberg, Dominic Hasek, Nikolai Khabibulin, Alex Kovalev, Matthew Lombardi, Roberto Luongo, John Madden, Evgeni Malkin, Willie Mitchell, Chris Neil, Alexander Ovechkin, Brendan Shanahan, Bryan Smolinski, Ryan Smyth, Eric Stall, Mats Sundin, Alex Tanguay, Tim Taylor and Doug Weight (1) 0.5%Which of these under-22 players would you select as a foundation for you franchise? 1) Sidney Crosby (202) 76%2) Alexander Ovechkin (39) 15% 3) Dion Phaneuf (11) 4%4) Evgeni Malkin (9) 3%5) Other -Dan Fritsche, Ryan Getzlaf, Karl Lehtonen, Mike Richards and Mathias Tjarnqvist (1) 0.4%Which NHL arena has the best ice? 1) Edmonton (152) 58.4%2) Calgary (22) 8.5%3) Montreal (21) 8.1%4) Detroit (13) 5%5) Minnesota and Toronto (9) 3.5%6) Carolina (6) 2.3%7) Ottawa and Vancouver (5) 1.9%8) Pittsburgh (4) 1.5%9) Buffalo and Colorado (3) 1.2%10) Nashville (2) 0.77%11) Atlanta, Boston, Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles and Philadelphia (1) 0.38%Which NHL arena has the worst ice? 1) Anaheim (42) 16%2) Rangers (41) 15.7%3) Florida (40) 15.3%4) San Jose (19) 7.2%5) Phoenix (18) 6.8%6) Tampa Bay (17) 6.5%7) Toronto and Washington (13) 4.9%8) Dallas (10) 3.8%9) St. Louis (7) 2.6%10) Los Angeles (6) 2.2%11) Boston, Carolina, Chicago and New Jersey (5) 1.9%12) Atlanta, Buffalo, Columbus and Nashville (3) 1.1%13) Edmonton, Islanders and Pittsburgh (1) 0.38%What’s your position on the visor issue? 1) Keep it optional (214) 77%2) Grandfather it for all players entering the NHL (44) 16%3) Mandate it for all players (20) 7%If you had a son who was an NHL prospect, would you prefer to see him play: 1) U.S. college hockey (140) 52%2) Major junior hockey (104) 39%3) European hockey (26) 10%4) Other (0)What’s the best thing about your job? 1) Living dream/playing/adrenaline/sold out buildings, etc. (111) 43%2) Friendship/Teammates (32) 12%3) Money/Lifestyle (26) 10%4) Travel/other cities/road trips (25) 9.7%5) Times off/Summer (22) 8.5%6) Playing against best/competing (11) 4.2%7) Everything (8) 3%8) Fans (6) 2.3% 9) Women (5) 2%10) Naps (3) 1.2%11) Winning (3)1.2%12) Fame (2) 0.78%13) Hotels (1) 0.4%14) Media (1) 0.4%15) Trainers (1) 0.4%16) Video Coach, Steve Summers, Serge (1) 0.4%What’s the worst thing about your job? 1) Travel/flying/sked/missing family (104) 42.6%2) Injuries (33) 13.5%3) Nothing (25) 10.2%4) Losing/slump (17) 6.9%5) Media/questions/etc. (12) 4.9%6) Uncertain future/Job security (9) 3.6%7) Trades (8) 3.2%8) Pressure (7) 2.8%9) Practice (5) 2%10) Politics/Business side (3) 1.2%11) Working out (3) 1.2%12) Backchecking (2) 0.81%13) Back-to-back games (2) 0.81%14) Protein shakes, watching video, late nights, filling out forms, fighting, autographs, missed childhood, girls, money, Cam Janssen, getting yelled at, pre-game skate, coaches and being booed (1) 0.4%Which of the following phrases most closely resembles your opinion of the NHL working environment?1) Somewhere in between (161) 60%2) Progressive and open-minded (55) 21%3) Old boys network (51) 19%

[digitalmonkey 929]

I wonder which one Serge will point out?

[doox 15]

As far as the question about the teams players want to get traded to (which is probably the one DM means in regards to Serge), I don't quite get the thinking. I'm not sure at what point in the season the players did this survey, but why are Buffalo and Pittsburgh so low on the list? Pittsburgh, because at this point in the survey, their arena wasn't finalized? I would think players would want to be on a team with their potential. And not wanting to be on the best team in the East? Maybe they picked Toronto because they knew they'd be overpaid.

[digitalmonkey 929]

As far as the question about the teams players want to get traded to (which is probably the one DM means in regards to Serge), I don't quite get the thinking. I'm not sure at what point in the season the players did this survey, but why are Buffalo and Pittsburgh so low on the list? Pittsburgh, because at this point in the survey, their arena wasn't finalized? I would think players would want to be on a team with their potential. And not wanting to be on the best team in the East? Maybe they picked Toronto because they knew they'd be overpaid.

Players look at many more things then the quality of the team. Who knows, maybe the majority of players asked are from Ontario.And yes, I was saving that Toronto/overpaid line as a comeback for the inevitable "Toronto is the greatest and even the players think so" post from Serge.

[strategy 4]

Players look at many more things then the quality of the team. Who knows, maybe the majority of players asked are from Ontario.And yes, I was saving that Toronto/overpaid line as a comeback for the inevitable "Toronto is the greatest and even the players think so" post from Serge.

Or maybe it was a childhood dream to play for the leafs for a lot of the players?Ok, I'll go with what you said.

[doox 15]

Oops. I'll edit if you like

[strategy 4]

Oops. I'll edit if you like

lol, did you just post exactly what I said?

[digitalmonkey 929]

Oops. I'll edit if you like

LOL...he's already here. I'm sure he'll post after he wipes it clean.

[serge 904]

Players look at many more things then the quality of the team. Who knows, maybe the majority of players asked are from Ontario.And yes, I was saving that Toronto/overpaid line as a comeback for the inevitable "Toronto is the greatest and even the players think so" post from Serge.

I didnt answer the questions..the players did..Of course most players want to play for Gods team, the center of the universe....enough said

[TheDaveyG 6]

weird, i was just posting this same topic.

[digitalmonkey 929]

I didnt answer the questions..the players did..Of course most players want to play for Gods team, the center of the universe....enough said

Of course they'd choose Toronto. Where else would they get so overpaid for their services?------------------------------------------------*It still works but not as well.

[nell789 0]

I like the over-rated players section of the poll.

[sinc 0]

I didnt answer the questions..the players did..Of course most players want to play for Gods team, the center of the universe....enough said

Clearly its a no brainer. Who else wouldn't want to go to a team where they get 50% more than their worth, have stupid fanboys like yourself make 3rd liners feel like all stars, and get to work on their golf game early every year? Pretty easy choice if you ask me.

[lordofelt 0]

I liked the fact that a large % polled thought that more games againt the other conference would be good. But then realized that travel was the number 1 complaint about their job, I wonder if players will be ok with more travel if it means more games against the other conference. Also found it impressive that Joe Sakic was the overwhelming favorite for most respected player in the league, seems fitting though always seems like a standup guy.

[Speed Limit 0]

I'd like to know how many goalies were polled, if any.

[doox 15]

LOL - I just found DM's "easter egg" in one of the poll answers.

[gruven 530]

As far as the question about the teams players want to get traded to (which is probably the one DM means in regards to Serge), I don't quite get the thinking. I'm not sure at what point in the season the players did this survey, but why are Buffalo and Pittsburgh so low on the list? Pittsburgh, because at this point in the survey, their arena wasn't finalized? I would think players would want to be on a team with their potential. And not wanting to be on the best team in the East? Maybe they picked Toronto because they knew they'd be overpaid.

Most of the answers were based on the actual CITY... not the team in the city.....

[gruven 530]

I didnt answer the questions..the players did..Of course most players want to play for Gods team, the center of the universe....enough said

The number is also very relevant to the percentage of players born in Ontario. Also, there is a significant drop from the last time this player poll was done...

[Zach6668 513]

Gruven,I'd like to know about the sampling techniques used here, if you know.Was the sample of players polled representative of the entire league? Ie x% from each team, x% from Europe, x% from NA, proportionate to the league percentages, etc, or was it just one of those "Ask the Leafs and the visiting teams that visit Toronto" type polls?

[gruven 530]

Gruven,I'd like to know about the sampling techniques used here, if you know.Was the sample of players polled representative of the entire league? Ie x% from each team, x% from Europe, x% from NA, proportionate to the league percentages, etc, or was it just one of those "Ask the Leafs and the visiting teams that visit Toronto" type polls?

The usual method for these is to have the correspondents for the teams in that city (THN has 30 correspondents, 1 for each team, that write about that team in every issue) ask the questions of 10 players, with a mix of veterans, younger players, forwards, defense, goal, etc, to provide as accurate a cross section as possible....

[TheDaveyG 6]

Is there any way to find out who voted for Fitzpatrick, Eric Godard or Josh Green for Best Player?

[digitalmonkey 929]

The usual method for these is to have the correspondents for the teams in that city (THN has 30 correspondents, 1 for each team, that write about that team in every issue) ask the questions of 10 players, with a mix of veterans, younger players, forwards, defense, goal, etc, to provide as accurate a cross section as possible....

Obviously Kyle Wellwood was one of the Toronto players asked.

[gruven 530]

Is there any way to find out who voted for Fitzpatrick, Eric Godard or Josh Green for Best Player?

No.

[serge 904]

Obviously Kyle Wellwood was one of the Toronto players asked.

Well he probably had time...he doesnt own a tv.

[Zach6668 513]

Yeah, ok. That's what I assumed.