Greatest Captains List

[jkrx]

Alot of players on that list are still playing or just retired. Which I doubt a lot of them would be on there. Like Toews, Doan and Richards?

Doan is an underrated leader. He might not be that high up in a ranking of this magnitude but he should be mentioned.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

The Oilers were Gretzky's team and no one else. One of the hardest working and most competitive players who year-in and year-out got the most from his teams. Only 4 years in his entire career, most of which he was a captain, did he not get his team to the playoffs - and many of them after Edmonton over-achieved to do so.

If you include Yzerman and Sakic, even Beliveau, in your list you agree you do not need to be an in your face type of leader to be an effective captain.

From what I saw and read, Messier was the leader in Edmonton.

Gretzky was the best player (duh?) and captain. It always seemed to me Gretzky wore the C so he could piss & moan to the refs without getting penalty. And when there is a scrum on the ice and all your teammates are getting into it, the leader isn't usually the guy that's trying to stay as far away as possible.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Was Bill Cook that great a captain? I haven't seen much specifically written about his leadership, though perhaps I missed it. I'm interrested as I've got him in the ATD.

The list was sort of thrown together, but Cook should definitely be up there somewhere. He should probably be lower than Bouchard (who apparently stuck around for years after his injury as a mediocre defenseman because of his leadership), but he was apparently a "do anything to win" type of guy who was captain of his team for a long time. Maybe he gets a little overrated in the NYC area as the only captain of the Rangers to win more than 1 Cup in the role.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Ted Kennedy definitely deserves to be higher, and Dave Keon kicked right off, that list. We all know Keon was as exemplary a player, but I've heard so many negative reports about his personality (including Lanny McDonald saying he "did nothing" for him as a rookie), that it's hard to consider him a leader anywhere besides the ice, let alone the 15th best captain in NHL history.

A little disappointed with the lack of Eddie Gerard love here. Edit: nevermind, I see VI mentioned him.

Kennedy could probably stand to be quite a bit higher, I agree.

As for Keon, you probably know more about him than me. I have him up there because he was captain of the Leafs for awhile (though with no Cups as captain), and was generally considered a "do anything to win" kind of guy.

I mean, that one panel of "hockey experts" voted Keon the best Leaf of all-time, and it doesn't make sense (given his lack of stats and awards) unless he brought a lot more to the table.

I'd be interested to see more of these negative accounts by Keon.

I know Keon trashed Andy Bathgate after Bathgate's brief time in Toronto, and I would take it a lot less seriously if Keon was a guy who often had trouble with teammates.

 

[jkrx]

Derian Hatcher Rick Tocchet and Wendel Clark deserve a mention here.

Clark? He was good in toronto, yes but when traded to lesser team he was struck with a bad attitude. He lost alot of my respect when he played for the Islanders.