The Athletic held their annual anonymous NHL players poll this week, asking over 120 NHLers for their opinion on everything ranging from McDavid’s future in Edmonton to the advantages of playing in tax free states.
The most interesting question to me though, “Who has the most punchable face in the NHL?”
At first guess, you might think Brad Marchand, right? Well, he’s #2 with 19% of the vote. Teammate Matthew Tkachuk is just behind him in 3rd place at 10%.
The top spot though with a whopping 24% of votes goes to… Ottawa Senators forward Nick Cousins.
Yeah… that tracks.
Considering that Cousins has been fined multiple times in his career for diving, it’s easy to see why he’s so disliked around the league. In short, the guy is a punk.
“I don’t even know if he’s in the league anymore,” one player said.
“He’s an effective rat on the ice,” another said. “He’s good at what he does.”
And on it goes.
“It’s just the way he plays. He’s a little rat.”
“He’s a diver. I hate divers.”
“I can’t stand him. I heard he’s a good guy, but I’d still love to punch him in the face.”
“I’d say Nick Cousins. I love the guy. He’s a very good friend to me. On ice, for sure.”
One player went deep on his pick.
“I have a deep respect for players who have an ability to get under people’s skin,” he said. “I like those guys. For me, the top is Nick Cousins. Everybody hates this guy in the league, but when you play with him, he’s one of the best teammates you could ask for. The thing about Cousins is he literally made a career out of it. Brad Marchand could just play. Nick Cousins isn’t that good of a player, but he’s confident all the time. That’s a f—ing hard thing to do. ‘I might be minus-4 tonight and turn 12 pucks over, but I’m still going to chirp you the whole game.’ That’s next level.”
