Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Players would be even more biased than journalists. Most of them don't watch much hockey. They would almost all vote for a teammate. And the NHL player pecking order is very much based around longevity and popularity.
The award I'd like to see is defensive defenceman. It's loopy that the NHL has an award for best defensive forward and it doesn't have one for best defensive defenceman.
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I don't think any of this is true. These guys are grown men, not pee-wee kids voting for their captain. They certainly understand better than anyone who is better than who. Has anyone ever had a problem with who ended up with the Pearson award? The writers don't have bias because their homers (some of them are) they have bias because they can't see all the teams or players. These guys play every team. Many of them multiple times. And yes, they watch hockey all the time. Maybe not at home so much, but during the season they aren't home all that much and the TVs in the arenas/dressing rooms constantly show highlights and games. Even if they made a conscious effort to avoid it, they watch more hockey than most. There's also many more players than journalists. If there are any players who unjustifiably vote for their teammate, it wouldn't skew the results as much as a writer does.
But, if anyone, the coaches are probably best positioned to make judgments on how players impact the games.