Last week, the NHL Players' Association revealed that a poll of its members concluded that Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron of Boston are the "most complete" players in the game.
No specific criteria for making a selection were mentioned, but "most complete" seems self-explanatory: Being good (or better) at all aspects of the game.
Shortly thereafter, the results of voting for the Selke Trophy, which goes to the NHL's top defensive forward, were announced.
Florida's Aleksander Barkov, who had been the favorite, claimed the top spot, followed by Bergeron and Mark Stone of Vegas.
All were worthy contenders for the award, and a good case could have been made for each.
What's a little tougher to understand is why Crosby finished 14th.
That's not to suggest he was slighted -- as with the playoffs, there's only one winner, and Barkov certainly deserved the award -- but it is perplexing how a guy long known primarily for his offensive ability and creativity whose game has evolved to make him even more of a 200-foot force could be overlooked by all but seven of 100 voters. (Crosby got four fourth-place and three fifth-place votes.)
Mind you, the people who voted for the Selke were not the same ones who cited Crosby and Bergeron as the game's most complete players; members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association picked the Selke winner, while NHLPA members participated in the poll by that organization.
And voting for league-wide awards was particularly challenging this year because players and (most) writers focused solely on one division, and did not get a first-hand look at some trophy-worthy players elsewhere in the league.
Nonetheless, it's surprising that Crosby -- the most prominent player to pass through the league during the past few decades -- would be, at best, an afterthought for the vast majority of Selke voters.
• Montreal's 2-1 loss to Vegas in Game 4 of their semifinal not only allowed the Golden Knights to tie the series, but put a few dents in the Canadiens' chances of outdoing one of the most remarkable feats in playoff history. In 1993, the Canadiens lost their opener in their first-round series against Quebec in overtime, but won each of their next 10 games that extended past the third period, including three during the Cup final against Los Angeles. (Future Penguins winger John LeClair scored two of the game-winners against the Kings.) The current edition of the Canadiens is now 4-1 in overtime.
* Jake Guentzel, a third-round draft choice in 2013, is often cited as an example of how good scouting can turn up quality prospects long after Round 1 of the draft. It should be noted, though, that he's hardly the only third-rounder to make that point. Tampa Bay center Brayden Point, claimed by the Lightning in Round 3 in 2014, enters Game 5 against the New York Islanders Monday night with a seven-game goal-scoring streak, the second-longest longest in the Stanley Cup history. Reggie Leach of Philadelphia, with 10, has the only longer one. Mario Lemieux is one of eight players to get a goal in seven consecutive playoff games, and is the only one to do it twice.
• That was a gutsy decision by Vegas coach Pete DeBoer to replace Marc-Andre Fleury, whose late-game puck-handling gaffe cost the Golden Knights a chance to win Game 3, with Robin Lehner for Game 4 at Montreal, but it paid off when Lehner responded with an excellent performance. It now will be interesting to see who DeBoer turns to for Game 5, since at least part of the rationale for sitting Fleury Sunday was to give him some rest after being his team's go-to goalie for 2 1/2 rounds. There's absolutely nothing new about Fleury having a misadventure with the puck, but he's the biggest reason Vegas has gotten this far, so sticking with Lehner won't be as easy as it might seem at first blush.
• Tough day for many in the hockey world with the news Monday that Tom Kurvers, a longtime defenseman who has been serving as assistant GM in Minnesota, has died of adenocarcinoma, a small-cell lung cancer. Kurvers, who received the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey in 1984, won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1986. He was 58.
• Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin was a runaway winner of the Lady Byng Trophy, which recognizes "the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability." No fewer than 56 other players were mentioned in the voting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and in any given year, just about everyone except, say, Tom Wilson and Ryan Reaves has at least an outside chance of turning up on someone's ballot. Still, it was eye-catching that Jared McCann -- the only Penguins player mentioned in the voting -- landed in tie with Detroit's Filip Zadina for 35th place, because both got there by receiving one second-place vote each. Neither player made it onto anyone else's list, but both were the No. 2 choice for a voter.
• The Tampa Bay-New York Islanders series has produced a lot of great moments, but one of the best came when something didn't happen. During the second period of Game 4 at Nassau Coliseum, New York's Jordan Eberle had a chance to hit Lightning forward Alex Killorn, who was leaving the ice, and knock him through the open gate at Tampa Bay's bench. Eberle absolutely was entitled to check Killorn, but refrained, presumably because he recognized the possibility that Killorn could be injured if driven into the gate (or even the bench). It was a tremendous show of respect for an opponent -- and for the game.
• Carey Price gets a lot of credit for getting Montreal, the final playoff qualifier in the North Division, to within six victories of a Cup, and rightly so. But don't overlook the contribution of the Canadiens' penalty-killers: They not only have killed 92.9 percent of the power plays they've faced -- easily the highest success rate in the league -- but actually have scored more goals (4) than they've allowed (3). That's just a wee bit beyond unthinkable.
• Rene Robert, who suffered a heart attack last week, is best-known as the right winger on Buffalo's celebrated "French Connection" line, which included Gilbert Perreault and Richard Martin, and understandably so. That was a terrifically entertaining and productive unit. What some -- at least among those who weren't around (or weren't paying attention) then -- might not realize is that Robert actually played 49 games with the Penguins in 1971-72 before being traded to the Sabres for Eddie Shack. At last report, Robert, 72, was recovering in a Florida hospital.
• The Ontario Hockey League's Priority Selection draft doesn't generally attract a lot of attention outside of the markets involved, especially when there isn't a super-prospect like John Tavares or Connor McDavid ready to enter the league. But the Sarnia Sting generated a lot of buzz recently when it used its choice in the 14th -- yes, 14th -- round to claim a goalie. Nothing special about that, except that the goalie in question is a female, Taya Currie, making her the first player of her gender to be drafted by an OHL club.