NHL Players Talk In-Season Tournament, Worst Coaches, Facilities in Anonymous Poll

The Athletic released its NHL player poll on Wednesday, asking 111 anonymous players their takes on a number of subjects, from which team would rank No. 1 on their no-trade list (the Winnipeg Jets, 48.7 percent) to the coach they'd most like to play for other than their own (the Tampa Bay Lightning's Jon Cooper, 23.5 percent).

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella, on the other hand, easily topped the list of head coaches that players would least like to play under (38.4 percent).

Las Vegas Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy was a surprising runner-up (12.3 percent) given the team's 2022-23 Stanley Cup championship and consecutive playoff appearances on his watch.

"I haven't heard too many good things about the Vegas coach, Cassidy," a player told The Athletic. "I don't really know him that well, but I haven't heard anything good about him."

On a positive note, the Detroit Red Wings (24.5 percent of the vote) narrowly edged out the Seattle Kraken (21.88 percent) and Edmonton Oilers (20 percent) as the organization with the best facilities for opposing teams. No surprises there—Detroit's Little Caesars Arena, Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena and Edmonton's Rogers Place were all built in the past decade.

"Really, any of the new rinks," one player said.

"All of the newer buildings are great," another added.

The Carolina Hurricanes ran away with the vote for the worst facilities, however, at a whopping 65.7 percent.

"The visiting room sucks," a player said. "And the home room is basically the visiting room with some paint on the walls. So, yeah, pretty s--tty."

The players were also polled on whether they'd be in favor of an In-Season Tournament, similar to the one the NBA recently added, with 54.5 percent against it. Some players found the NBA Cup "gimmicky" and "corny," though others saw the appeal.

"I think it's good," one said. "Extra revenue. Gets fans more involved in the game. More rivalries."

Interestingly, 58.3 percent of the players polled said they didn't believe the 82-game season was too long, though many felt the preseason should be shortened and several didn't feel the league was particular concerned with player safety amidst talks of expanding to 84 games.

"Sounds like Gary (Bettman) wants to expand even more," a player said. "We have to add more games. Is it too long? Is it very long? Yeah. Especially for the grind of hard skating is, how much toll it takes, the physicality. You look at basketball: They do significant load management for their big guys. They jog around half the game, fire up a couple threes and they're taking load management. Which is wild. And we're grinding through 82. The mentality, shot-blocking—it's not even the same stratosphere."

That's a pretty dramatic understatement on the wear-and-tear that comes with sprinting up and down a hardwood floor or the overall physicality of the NBA game, but it nonetheless speaks to the players overall concerns regarding safety.