AUTOGRAPHS

Is the Captaincy on an NHL team OVERRATED?

Me and Lubers were just discussing this and wondered what you thought?
I asked him if Pronger will now have the “C” on his sweater now that he has signed a long term deal,if so, how long would he have it until he gave it back to Richards?What are your thoughts there?

I don’t think so. I think different individuals wear the C differently.

Let’s take Philadelphia for example. While Holmgren mentioned at the draft that he had/would be talking to Richards about giving up the ‘C’ to Pronger – he never said it would be a done deal. That said, Pronger will be a very different captain than Richards (if it happens). I think Pronger is more of a throwback to the Mark Messier/Bobby Clarke type captain and I think this is something that benefits the Flyers.

I think players like Bourque, Yzerman, Sakic, and Modano were extremely good captains who led their teams off and on the ice. They said what needed to be said, and then wnet out and did it. And the best compliment of all – they have the mutual respect of fans and players alike as captains. (Throw Scott Niedermayer, Trevor Linden, Clark Gillies, Jarome Iginla, Denis Potvin, and Wendel Clark in this category as well).

Lately however, the NHL has generated a new breed of captain that tend to be people who you wouldn’t think of as captains. Guys like Saku Koivu, Jason Smith, Bryan McCabe (was he really the best leader the Islanders had) and Chris Clark. Players that don’t really fit the North American idea of what a captain should be, and fans can name a half dozen players on each of those teams who better deserve the captaincy.

In the case of players like Crosby, Toews, and Richard – these are young guys who are seen as future leaders by the fans and their respective organizations. I think the lengthy captaincies by Yzerman, Bourque, and Sakic have told teams that if you have a young player with the right emotional makeup – you can name him captain at a young age – especially if you surround him with the right people.

Yzerman had former Sabres captain Danny Gare as a rookie, and Brad Park…and later on had such leaders as Mark Howe and Borje Salming, and then he specifically requested Bernie Federko…and by that point – Yzerman was a bona fide star AND a bona fide captain.

Bourque had Cashman, Park, and Middleton in his early days. Sakic had Stastny and Goulet. Modano had Mike Gartner, Larry Murphy, and Neal Broten.

I think the goal is to give the captaincy to a player who commands respect, has skills (not too many goons have ascended to captaincies – not even on treams that rotate their captains), and has a good relationship with the media (Jaromir Jagr a notable exception).

I do take exceptions to teams like Buffalo and Minnesota where rotating the captaincy seems to be the soup of the day. I think it’s admirable that they are trying to get multiple people respected – but good teams earn their respect with one captain (Detroit under Lindsay and Yzerman, Montreal under Richard, Beliveau, and Cournoyer, Philadelphia under Clark, New Jersey under Stevens) and I think having one captain, and one focal point is good for the fans.

So, I don’t think being a captain of an NHL team is something to be taken lightly, but I think there are teams who have made bad decisions recently in naming their captains (Washington, Buffalo, Montreal, and Minnesota come to mind).

LITY

Joe Romano & Ray Bourque