Do you agree?

Question

This was was my answer to a question, chosen as best answer by the way. Now I'm posing it as a question, with a follow up question regarding Montreal.

Do you agree that:

Saku Koivu is the worst current captain in the NHL. He has been the captain since 1999 and cannot get past the second round of the playoffs. I guess you could even go back to 1994 and all the captains before Koivu.

With the salary cap and draft in place, the Canadiens cannot hand pick all the French-Canadians anymore. It must be tough seeing that dynasty become a less than average team.

Answer 1

I think the same thing could be said about any of the original 6.

Within the past 10 years the Wings seemed to be the only team to have been able to hoist the cup.

I think like everything else, it has cycles of good and bad.

Unfortunately the Blackhawks and Leafs have been on the bad side of the cycle for 40+ years now.

_

Answer 2

I don't agree with that at all. It takes way more than one man no matter how good he is to win a championship and for the years that Koivu was captain the Canadiens were by no means a cup contender and for the most part not ever a real playoff team.

You could just as easily argue that Gretzky was not that great a captain because after he left a stacked Edmonton team he never lead a team to a championship. Hell look how long it took Yzerman to win a Stanley cup and many regard him as the greatest captain of all time.

As for the idea of French Canadians, the NHL has come a long way from the times where French Canadians dominated the league. Because think of it this way which two players would you rather have Sidney Crosby (he's from Nova Scotia for those who don't know) and Alex Ovechkin or Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Besides Bob Gainey, the best captain the Habs ever had was from Ontario.

Answer 3

I don't agree, because the worst captain in the NHL obviously isn't someone who makes the playoffs. It'd be like the captains of teams like.. the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and teams that are bad every season. Koivu is a great player, if people don't know that, they need to watch more hockey. Koivu leads his team to the playoffs almost every season. You don't just depend on one player to make it through the playoffs. If you can't count on your whole team to win, you won't make it far at all, if any where into the playoffs. One player can't win a series, look at the Washington Capitals. Last season, Ovechkin was the only good player on the team statistic wise compared to everyone else. Where did they get? Nowhere, because they had one good player. Same with Pittsburgh, but they had a few decent players besides Crosby. Look at Pittsburgh this year, they now got Malkin, Staal, Crosby, Gonchar, Fleury, all stepping up and using the whole team instead of 1 or 2 players. Team effort/teamwork wins you games. In Koivu's case, he needs more players to step up. With Cristobal Huet being out for the season, David Aebischer has to stand up and lead Montreal. Koivu needs help from the rest of his good players, like Alexei Kovalev, Michael Ryder, Shelden Souray (He is doing amazing, one of the big reasons along with Koivu why they are winning any games at all), Andrei Markov, Christopher Higgins, and also players who were good on previous teams like Sergei Samsonov, he was very good, consistent, and a big reason why Boston won game when he was on the Bruins, and same with Radek Bonk, back when he was on Ottawa. Bonk was one of the fastest players, and was very good. He was one of the many reason Ottawa won the Northeast 6 or so years in a row, and he has to do the same with Montreal, who needs back up from the surrounding cast instead of just Koivu and Souray. No offense bro, but I disagree 100%.

Answer 4

The captain of a team is picked for reasons not necessarilly related to his performance on the ice.

The captaincy is a form of respect bestowed upon the player by his teammates as much as anything. On some teams the picking of the captain is left up to management, but on other teams the captain is chosen by his peers. This is often due to his contributions in the locker room as often as his on-ice performance.

Answer 5

they need a team not a captain they have been in trouble way to long and i am a die hard toronto fan so hope they stay at the bottom.

Answer 6

no i beleive koivu is a considerably good captain just becuz he doesnt contribute much on the ice you have no clue wat goes on in the lockerroom. he already shows himself as a pretty dam tough guy overcomin that stomach cancer.(and im like on of the biggest bruins fans)

Answer 7

i agree for the most part, but the captain cant play every position by himself

Answer 8

i hate the habs but i love saku koivu!!!!!! so damn trade him to us id love him to be on our team! =]

go sabres!