THE RESULTS

7 (tie) Kris Letang. Polarizing as ever, Letang landed on just two ballots — but was in the top four on both of those. Destin had Letang the highest, occupying his third spot. Destin cited his high workload — at 36, he’s still top 15 in the NHL in ice time — and his work on a solid PK as reasons why he was ahead of others. 7

(tie) Kyle Dubas. Dubas won over two voters with his wheeling and dealing over the past 10 months. He received a second-place vote from Hoover. Hoover explained, “He took over a precarious situation full of bad contracts from Ron Hextall. Some of Dubas’ acquisitions took a while to find their footing — and some haven’t worked at all — but shrewdly remaking the roster into something even somewhat cohesive with such velocity has been impressive to watch.” 6 Erik Karlsson. I wrestled with Karlsson versus Letang. Letang was arguably the team’s second-best player in the first half. But Karlsson had better advanced statistics and made more eye-popping offensive plays. For much of the season, I leaned Letang — and an inexact poll I did this week on X, 55.5% of the respondents agreed with that view. But I flipped to Karlsson, third on my ballot, after watching him elevate his play in recent weeks. It was that close for me.

5

Marcus Pettersson. Surprise, surprise. It was Pettersson who finished first among the defensemen. Fittingly, the steady, unspectacular Swede didn’t crack anyone’s top three but made it on four of five ballots, giving him the edge. He’s taken his game to another level, in terms of both his breakouts and defending.

4

Michael Bunting. I couldn’t quite put him on my ballot after only 18 games in black and gold, but I will not quibble with the three voters who recognized just how impactful he has been since arriving at the trade deadline. Said Starkey, who put him second, “His presence changed the team and invigorated Geno.” No doubt Bunting has stirred things up in Pittsburgh. That is his reputation. But I didn’t expect this kind of scoring, with him averaging nearly a point per game.

3

Alex Nedeljkovic. Who saw this coming? He had a solid season — a little up and down in the middle — before supplanting Tristan Jarry as the starter. Since then, the scrappy goalie has been one of the catalysts for this crazy late-season comeback. Thus, he made all five of our ballots. Three panelists put him in their top three. Destin made the case for Nedeljkovic’s inclusion: “Without him, I find it hard to believe the Penguins would still have playoff hopes as late as April.” 2

Bryan Rust. Rust only made it onto three ballots — don’t yell at me, I had him on mine — but he received three second-place votes, vaulting him ahead of Ned and others. Once again, Rust is flirting with a 30-goal year. Not bad for a guy who didn’t net more than 17 in an NCAA season. Noted Mackey, “He has really elevated his game down the stretch, when the team needed something with no Jake Guentzel and Sid slumping.” I agree, obviously. He’s such a tone-setter.

1

Sidney Crosby. His first 40-goal season since 2017. Another point-per-game campaign. And for the fifth straight year, his peers voted him the league’s most complete player. Even we couldn’t overthink this. “I mean, duh,” Mackey said.