GETTING THE DIRT
We surveyed players with six of Canada’s NHL teams to find out what they think of their peers
WHO’S THE LEAGUE’S MOST OVERRATED PLAYER?
It’s a toss- up between a pair of Maple Leafs: Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf.
Each Leaf received three votes in a Postmedia News poll of NHL players in six Canadian NHL markets: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
Postmedia beat writers asked 22 players to answer a few questions — anonymously, of course — over the past three weeks.
And while a poll of this size is hardly scientific, it does shine a light on what at least some NHLers think about their peers.
Right behind Kessel and Phaneuf in the overrated category were Penguins goalie Marc- Andre Fleury, Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin, Hurricanes forward Alex Semin and Canadiens defenceman P. K. Subban with two votes each.
While there was no overwhelming winner — loser? — here, it’s telling that the two guys at the top are the two names that pop up most often when discussion turns to the Leafs, one of the NHL’s current sad- sack franchises.
Fleury won the Stanley Cup in 2009, but he wasn’t exactly stunning during that run.
Since then, it’s been a series of post- season disappointments and finger- pointing at Fleury, who has posted a playoff save percentage over .900 just once since the Cup victory.
As for Ovechkin, who has won five Rocket Richard trophies, including this year, one can only guess he was included due to the fact the Capitals tend to be a non- factor in the post- season, year after year.
Six other players ( Dustin Brown, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Hammond, Anze Kopitar, Milan Lucic and Jason Spezza) had one vote each.
Here’s what else we found out ( note: not every player answered every question):