from Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun,

As we all know, hockey fans are rational human beings, fair-minded to a fault, and able to see the big picture without petty provincialism.

National Hockey League players, similarly, are all about the well-being of the game, hold no grudges and never make decisions based on factors as crass as salary, climate, taxation or the median hotness of women in a given city’s nightclubs.

Also (full disclosure here), the task of interpreting results of this 2015-16 Postmedia hockey poll of players and fans has fallen to a scribe who has divided his career among Edmonton (22 years, five Stanley Cups), Toronto (seven years, zero Cups) and Vancouver (11 years, also bupkes)....

Biggest pain in the butt to play against: Clearly, there were too many barbed-wire shirts for the players to focus on just one. Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Zdeno Chara, Marchand … so much irritation, so little time. The fans had no difficulty, though, again choosing Marchand. Possibly a lifetime achievement award. They picked Habs’ Brendan Gallagher second.

Biggest impression this year: Kane was No. 1 for the players, not surprisingly. What’s surprising is that McDavid was second. The fans had it the other way around; McDavid first, by more than a two-to-one margin. This kid is so special, he’s risen above the Oilers’ awfulness, and everyone sees it.

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