There Was An Upset For The Ages In The 'Most Punchable Face' NHL Player Poll

I'm all about a player poll, and when it's about the NHL players with the most punchable faces, I cleared my schedule even though I figured I had a pretty good idea of who would win (lose?).

But I was wrong.

When we're talking about face punchability, that's typically — but not always — code for who is the biggest pest in the league, something that I've always felt is an underrated skill.

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I mean, sure, the tactics often toe the line of decency, but if your pesty ways lead to power plays, that has to count for something, right?

So, when I saw that The Athletic had polled some players on who had the most punchable face, I expected the top dog to be a Cat, and by that I mean a Florida Panther. Likely either the Rat King himself, Brad Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk, or maybe even Sam Bennett.

Wrong.

Marchand and Tkachuk came in second and third, respectively, while Bennett came home in seventh.

NHL players name Ottawa’s Nick Cousins the most punchable face in the league, edging out usual pests like Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk in a new player poll. (Getty Images)

According to this poll, the most punchable mug in hockey right now belongs to Nick Cousins of the Ottawa Senators, who, fittingly enough, used to be a Panther.

"He’s an effective rat on the ice," one player was quoted as saying. "He’s good at what he does."

"It’s just the way he plays. He’s a little rat," said another.

But one other player called out a quality that is frankly even worse than being a pest.

"He's a diver. I hate divers," an anonymous player said.

Oof. Hard to get past getting marked with Scarlett D… for "diver."

Good to see Cousins getting his due as one of the league's premier pests. 

I don't think I realized he had this in him when he was with the Flyers. Somewhere along the line, he just started letting his pest flag fly, and now he's being recognized for it.