NHL players believe Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is still the most complete player in hockey.
Crosby won the Most Complete Player title after receiving votes from 33.81 percent of the 630 players participating in the annual poll released Tuesday by the NHL Players’ Association.
He has won or shared the title for six straight seasons.
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is gaining on Crosby in the race for the Most Complete Player title.
Barkov, who finished 140 votes behind Crosby in the 2023-24 edition of the poll, came in just 18 votes behind the Penguins star with 30.95 percent of the vote this spring, according to the NHLPA.
The Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews and Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar also received votes in the complete player category.
Crosby meanwhile received the most votes for the questions of “If you need to win a faceoff, who would you pick?” and “Who is the smartest overall players?”
He finished top five in voting for “Who is the best overall forward?,” which McDavid won with a landslide 73.89 percent of the vote, and “Who is the best playmaker?,” which went to Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov.
Crosby broke Wayne Gretzky’s record for consecutive seasons with at least one point per game by recording his 20th straight point-per-game campaign this spring.
He heads into the Penguins’ Thursday regular season finale against the Washington Capitals having already put up 89 points (32 goals, 57 assists) in 79 games of his age-37 season. Crosby led his team in points at both even strength (55) and at 5-on-4 (22.)
He also won 57 percent of his faceoffs this season, marking his eighth straight season with at least a 52 success rate at the dot.
Crosby’s defense has declined alongside the Penguins’ thinning depth over the last few seasons, but he has remained his team’s biggest driver of offense. Any push the Penguins make to return to the playoffs next spring will center around his production and playmaking.
