CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Before the players in the Penguins' locker room were NHL players, they were fans first.
For this week's Survey Says I thought it would be fun to ask as many players as I could the same question: Who was your favorite player growing up?
It led to a good variety of answers, with two players picking guys who are now their teammates.
Here's what everyone said.
Jason Zucker: "Pavel Datsyuk. He was just one of those guys that just played the game a different way. He just was so skilled. He was fun to watch. He was a guy that played the game the way that, I mean, nobody can play that way. But I could never even dream of playing that way. So it was just fun to watch the way he played in the way that he thought the game, it was really fun."
Rickard Rakell: "My favorite player growing up was Peter Forsberg. He was Swedish, and he just did it all out there and just played strong, tough to play against, and seemed like he'd always scored important goals."
Kris Letang: "Pavel Bure. Just his explosiveness, speed. Just spectacular."
Brock McGinn: "My favorite player growing up was Alex Kovalev when he played for Montreal, I think he just was a lot of fun to watch with the puck and just entertaining."
Kasperi Kapanen: "If I'm not going to count my dad, then I'd have to say I think everyone idolized Alex Ovechkin. He can score, a big, physical guy, he hits guys. But I think my favorite player of all time is Ilya Kovalchuk. He's a cool player to watch."
Sidney Crosby: "I like Steve Yzerman, I like Peter Forsberg, those two guys probably at different points. I mean, I liked that huge rivalry. So I've seen both of those teams play a lot. I always liked Stevie Yzerman, he was captain. Detroit was winning then and I liked the way he played, a two-way player. Then Forsberg was kind of undersized and played pretty physical, when a lot of times skilled guys weren't as physical. I feel like he was a good combination of both. He liked to challenge bigger defenseman and things like that. So I I liked him for that too, and just his creativity. Yeah, mine are Steve Yzerman and Peter Forsberg."
Danton Heinen: "It was Joe Sakic. He's from BC where I'm from, and I just thought he could shoot the puck so I looked up to him."
Tristan Jarry: "I always liked Dan Cloutier being a Vancouver kid. And then obviously Roberto Luongo was a really good Vancouver Canuck. Earlier before that was Patrick Roy."
Bryan Rust: "My favorite player growing up was Peter Forsberg, just watching how he dominated with the puck and how good he was, how many plays he made. He was physically strong. He hit guys, knocked guys over, but he's also skilled."
Mark Friedman: "Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith, just because they're such good defensemen."
Brian Dumoulin: "Favorite player is Joe Sakic. Just because I liked the way he played, and he's a big-game player. He won. The first game I ever watched live was the Colorado Avalanche, I thought was pretty cool."
Marcus Pettersson: "I think Forsberg and Nick Lidstrom are two of the guys that I'd like. We didn't get that much coverage growing up of the NHL. As soon as you did, you wanted to watch. I think I had a bunch of Forsberg banners of him in Colorado. I have to say him."
Casey DeSmith: "I like Carey Price. I was a huge Habs fan, and I love the way he played. As a goalie, it's just beautiful to watch. So smooth and controlled and good."
P.O Joseph: "I had a lot of favorite players growing up. Being in Montreal I always looked up to Marc-Edouard Vlasic to when he was playing for team Canada. (Looks over at Letang's stall) There's another guy, but I'm not going to say it because he's in this organization so I can't give him that benefit. He's a defenseman here. I look forward to be playing with him for a long time and have the chance to to see him every day, but I can't tell him that I was looking to him growing up."
Jake Guentzel: "Crosby. Just because he's the best ever. As a kid when you're my age, when you were growing up he was just taking over the league. He's a guy I looked up to."
Past editions of Survey Says can be found here. Have an idea for a future question? Leave it in the comments!
