If you had to pick an American-born player who served as captain for an NHL team, who would you pick?
Are we talking the best leader, or the best player. I'd need to see a list of American-born captains to pinpoint the best leader. But who's the best player among those who have served as a captain? Chris Chelios.
1. Hatcher 2. Chelios Leetch and Modano were great players, but weren't great captains. Langway's Caps never won squat when in mattered.
Either Langway or Chelios. Even if Hatcher won a Cup, he doesn't even deserve a sniff of being mentionned in the same sentence than those two greats.
Langway captained one of the biggest choking teams ever. Hatcher is a way better captain. Chelios is a way better player and a solid captain, but on pure leadership ability, Hatcher gets the nod IMO. He could back in the day. He was never a great skater, but he wasn't a liability for the first 10 years of his career. Players that size tend to get worn down a bit quicker.
If you can't play, I don't care how much you have "leadership qualities". Generally I think leadership qualities are totally overrated here HFBoards.