ESPN bashed for NHL's best player of the year award at ESPY's

The annual ESPY awards hosted by ESPN provide a look back at the top athletes and moments from year to year in sports, but sometimes the decisions on the awards are more than questionable.

The winner of the 2021 Best NHL Player went to Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane. He won over players including Andrei Vasilevskiy, Auston Matthews, and Connor McDavid. Now how does this happen? Well voting for the awards began on June 16th and the winners are determined completely by fan votes.

Analysts from around the league are not happy with this one. First of all Kane was not anywhere close to being the top player in the league, and it is perplexing to see him win the award.

He wasn't anywhere close to the best player in the league, he wasn't the best player in his division, he wasn't even the best American player, etc. This is basically just «who is the biggest name we can get to acknowledge receiving this». https://t.co/Hu5wHN0W4f� Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) July 11, 2021

This is concerning to the NHL world for sure as this is a perfect example of what ESPN and Turner Sports are tasked with doing as they are the homes of hockey on TV now. Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and others need to be household names in order for the league to grow and thrive, and this is not a good start for the worldwide leader in sports.