This topic came up recently in a thread about Ovechkin/Yzerman on the main board, I was asked to make a quick list of greatest captains (copy/pasting):
On top of my head, my list would be something like this:
1.Jean Béliveau
2.Eddie Gerard
3.Mark Messier
4.Bobby Clarke
5.Denis Potvin
6.George Armstrong
7.Scott Stevens
Gets tougher after that for me, Gretzky, Abel, Crosby, Toews, Sakic, Yzerman, Cook, Kennedy, Clapper, Delvecchio and many others were all great.In hindsight Yzerman might make the Top 10, but I don't see what differentiates him from Crosby, Sakic or Toews as a leader.Actually I'd say Toews has the best case among all four, because his leadership was clear from the get go, whereas it's not as clear for Yzerman/Crosby/Sakic, named captain or not.I might even put Toews as high as #5 if I went more in-depth.
This also ignores players that could have been great captains if they had the chance, but might not have it due to how the captain was selected on their team (e.g. based on seniority).