Crosby Still Gets Love in NHLPA Poll; Kevin Hayes Makes Poll, Too

Sidney Crosby’s colleagues across the NHL still hold him in high regard, but the relationship might be a little complicated, according to the annual NHL Players Association player poll.

In the 2024-25 poll, released Tuesday, Crosby was voted the most complete player, the smartest player and is the top pick if you need to win a faceoff. However, he also finished fourth in the best overall forward category with just 1.53% of the vote, and fifth among the best playmakers with just 2.7% of the vote.

More on Crosby in a second.

The only other Penguins player to appear in the poll was forward Kevin Hayes. He got the top spot among players who would be a good broadcaster once they retire. Hayes garnered just 4.85% of the vote, but that was still tops. Who knew? Anaheim’s Ryan Strome came in second in the player voting with 3.88%.

You can see the full results here.

Back to Crosby. He needs one point in the Penguins’ season finale Thursday at home against the Washington Capitals to reach 90 — at age 37. The three-time Stanley Cup winner, and two-time Hart, Art Ross, Rocket Richard and Conn Smythe trophy winner has been known his whole career as at least a generational talent and someone who is top-tier in many aspects of his game, and it’s been well noted that he has not been displaying much if any of a dropoff in his game.

He also has been voted the best player by his colleagues three times with the Pearson/Lindsey awards.

Apparently, the players around the league feel that, outside of faceoffs and hockey IQ, Crosby is best viewed as the sum of his parts rather than in individual endeavors. Being voted the most complete player — he got 33.81% of the vote, with Florida’s Aleksander Barkov second with 30.95% — fits with the longtime popular observation that he is one of the top, if not the top, 200-foot players.

It is the sixth straight season Crosby has been voted the most complete player. He got 213 votes. Barkov, second for the second year in a row, closed the gap. Barkov finished 18 votes behind Crosby after he was 140 votes behind Crosby a year ago.

It seems it should follow, then, that he is still one of the best forwards in the NHL. However, Crosby got just 1.53% of the votes in that category. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid finished first as the best forward with a whopping 73.89% of the vote. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, a close buddy of Crosby’s, and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov also finished ahead of Crosby.

In the smartest player category, Crosby got 164 votes to finish first with 27.02% of the vote. Kucherov was second at 24.71%, just 14 votes behind Crosby.

Despite his 624 career goals, Crosby has always been known as a supreme playmaker, but he got just 2.70% of the vote in that category. Kucherov was named the best playmaker with 48.25% of the vote.

In faceoff reliability, Crosby won with 20.39% of the vote, considerably ahead of Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly, who was second with 9.95% of the vote. A year ago, O’Reilly finished ahead of Crosby.