While there is a clear-cut choice for the greatest captain in NHL history (we all know it's Steve Yzerman, and there is no close second), who are the esteemed leaders of each NHL team? In other words, who were the best captains from each established club?
2007-12-17 09:48:02 · 18 answers · asked by Snoop 5 in Sports ➔ Hockey
Yep, the best captain in each team's history.
2007-12-17 10:05:25 · update #1
Yep, the best captain in each team's history.
2007-12-17 10:06:58 · update #2
PuckDat- Ouch on Yzerman. Tell me how you really feel! Lol! While I respect what Yzerman has done, I strongly feel he was a great captain (and I say this knowing that Mario Lemieux, Scott Stevens, and Ron Francis were damn great captains in their own right). I'm not disrespecting your choices in any way (Beliveau is my grandfather all time favorite player, by the way), but I need more insight on their roles as captains.
2007-12-17 11:12:26 · update #3
LITY- I have to say that my opinions of both Messier and Yzerman may change. I used to be in the Yzerman being a Detroit thing and Messier being a product of New York hype (of course, I have been force-fed the Gospel of Yzerman living in Northwest Ohio the past twenty years). While there was no way in freaking hell Yzerman was a better player than Mario (a sportscaster on WJR truly believed that "opinion"...what a homer), I at least thought the guy was a better captain. If Scotty Bowman can say that Yzerman wasn't even the best captain he ever coached, and Mike Keenan didn't even bother nominating Messier on his ballot, holy cow! Did Bowman say who his best captain was?
I'm really surprised Mario got ranked as highly as he did...I always thought he was an underrated captain as it was.
2007-12-17 13:49:58 · update #4
Some teams (Montreal being the best case) were blessed with many great captains. Others (Blackhawks are a good example) won Cups and achieved greatness with few exceptional captains. In choosing a franchise's greatest captains, preference would often have to go to those who led their teams to the Stanley Cup finals, and beyond that, those who won. In a few cases, there were captains who managed to consistently draw more from their clubs than they would have otherwise been capable of. Here are my choices --
Anaheim Ducks: Scott Niedermayer
Atlanta Thrashers: Scott Melanby
Boston Bruins: Dit Clapper
Buffalo Sabres: Gilbert Perreault
Calgary, Atlanta Flames: Lanny McDonald (perhaps Jarome Iginla will one day exceed him by winning the Cup?)
Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers: a close contest between Ron Francis and Rod Brind'amour
Chicago Blackhawks: between Chuck Gardiner and Johnny Gotselig
Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques: Joe Sakic
Columbus Blue Jackets: a tough choice for such a young franchise, but so far it would probably be Adam Foote
Dallas/Minnesota Stars: Mike Modano
Detroit Red Wings: Steve Yzerman
Edmonton Oilers: despite the obvious abilities of Messier, Wayne Gretzky was the consensus leader and inspiration for four of Edmonton's five Cups.
Florida Panthers: Brian Skrudland
LA Kings: again, Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota Wild: tough choice in a limited field, perhaps Mark Parrish has been the best so far
Montreal Canadiens: a difficult choice in a field of legends including Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard, Doug Harvey, Toe Blake, Newsy Lalonde and Bob Gainey. My choice would probably be Beliveau.
Nashville Predators: Jason Arnott
New Jersey Devils/Colorado Rockies: Scott Stevens
NY Islanders: Denis Potvin
NY Rangers: Mark Messier
Ottawa Senators: Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia Flyers: Bobby Clark
Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets: a toss up between Shane Doan and Dale Hawerchuk
Pittsburgh Penguins: Mario Lemieux
San Jose Sharks: Patrick Marleau
St. Louis Blues: Chris Pronger
Tampa Bay Lightning: Dave Andreychuk
Toronto Maple Leafs: either Hap Day or Ted Kennedy
Vancouver Canucks: Trevor Linden
Washington Capitals: so far Dale Hunter. Perhaps one day Ovechkin?
2007-12-18 02:00:14 · answer #1 · answered by gam 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mista Mista - Al MacInnis was NEVER the captain of the Flames.
Anaheim - Paul Kariya
Atlanta - they've had captains?
Boston - Raymond Bourque
Buffalo - Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Lanny McDonald
Carolina - Ronald Francis
Chicago - Pierre Pilote
Colorado - Joseph Sakic
Dallas - Michael Modano
Columbus - they've had captains?
Detroit - Ted Lindsey
Florida - Scott Mellanby
Los Angeles - Wayne Gretzky
Minnesota Wild - Has anybody been a captian for more than 20 games?
Montreal Canadiens - Maurice Richard
Nashville Predators - Greg JOhnson
New Jersey - Scott Stevens
Islanders - Denis Potvin
Rangers - Bill Cook
Philadelphia - Bobby Clarke
Phoenix - Dale Hawerchuk
Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux
St. Louis - Brian Sutter
San Jose - Owen Nolan
Tampa Bay - Dave Andreychuk
Toronto - George Armstrong
Vancouver - Stan Smyl
Washington - Rod Langway
Snoop, this is for you and all those people who think Yzerman is thge best ever.........
In 2005 during the lockout, CBC/Ron MacLean did a roundtable with Dick Irvin, Mike Keenan, Scotty Bowman, Brian McFarlane, Don Cherry, Bob Nicholson, Stan Fischler, and Wayne Gretzky. They were each asked to pick the 5 best captains in NHL history.
Yzerman got a 5th place vote from Keenan
Messier didn't get any votes.
A fan asked Keenan why he didn't pick the greatest captain of all-time...Mark messier - Keenan laughed and said that Mark didn't deserve it.
Scotty was asked why he didn't choose Yzerman, he claimed that Yzerman wasn't the best captain he had ever had.
On both cases, I have to agree with the experts
Here is how the experts chose
1. Maurice Richard (6-1-0-1-0) 36 pts
2. Wayne Gretzky (1-4-0-1-0) 27 pts
3. Jean Beliveau (1-1-3-0-0) 21 pts
4. Bobby Clarke (0-1-4-1-1) 19 pts
5. Mario Lemieux (0-1-1-2-0) 11 pts
6. George Armstrong (0-0-0-2-0) 4 pts
7. Yvan Cournoyer (0-0-0-1-1) 3 pts
8. Dave Keon (0-0-0-0-1) 1 pt
9. John Bucyk (0-0-0-0-1) 1 pt
10. Joe Sakic (0-0-0-0-1) 1 pt
11. Steve Yzerman (0-0-0-0-1) 1 pt
12. Brian Sutter (0-0-0-0-1) 1 pt
13. Ray Bourque (0-0-0-0-1) 1 pt
My personal top 3
Richard
Clarke
Gretzky
2007-12-17 20:44:36 · answer #2 · answered by Like I'm Telling You Who I A 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Anaheim: Kariya
Atlanta: Ray Ferraro
Boston: Ray Bourque
Buffalo: Pat LaFontaine
Calgary: Lanny McDonald
Carolina/Hartford: Ron Francis
Chicago: Can't be just one, too many to chose from
Colorado/Quebec: Joe Sakic
Columbus: Adam Foote
Dallas/Minnesota: Mike Modano
Detroit: Duh
Edmonton: Wayne Gretzky
Florida: Olli Jokinen
Los Angeles: Dave Taylor
Minnesota: Wes Walz
Montreal: Same as Chicago, too many to pick from
Nashville: Kimmo Timonen
New Jersey: Scott Stevens
New York Islanders: Denis Potvin
New York Rangers: Mark Messier
Ottawa: Daniel Alfredsson
Philadelphia: Bobby Clarke
Phoenix/Winnipeg: Keith Tkachuk
Pittsburgh: Mario Lemieux
St. Louis: Al MacInnis
San Jose: Owen Nolan
Tampa Bay: Dave Andreychuk
Toronto: Too many
Vancouver: Trevor Linden
Washington: Dale Hunter
Hey, you did say each team
2007-12-18 00:05:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Im just gonna be biased here a little, Ill JUST focus on Pittsburgh,
Mario or Crosby.
Mario gets the win here only because he played longer with the team, gave his heart and soul for the team and almost died as a penguin (cancer) And even after he was the team captain, he became the Organization Captain, So heads up go to Mario however someday that may change to crosby.
2007-12-18 16:39:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I didn't name all the teams, just the ones that have been around for a while.
Anaheim - Niedermeyer (Kariya was great, but Nieds got them a cup)
Boston - Ray Bourque
Buffalo - Gilbert Perreault
Calgary - Big Al
Carolina / Hartford - Ronny Francis
Chicago - Pierre Pilote
Colorado / Quebec - Sakic
Detroit - Yzerman
Edmonton - Mess
LA - Dave Taylor
Montreal - tough one, but I gotta go with Beliveau
NJ - Scott Stevens
NYI - Potvin
NYR - Messier
Phoenix / Winnipeg - Lars-Erik Sjoberg
Pittsburgh - who else?
Philly - Clarke
St. Louis - Pronger
Toronto - Dave Keon
Vancouver - Linden
Washington - Rod Langway
2007-12-17 19:56:55 · answer #5 · answered by Mister Sarcastic 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Steve Yzerman
2007-12-17 17:50:46 · answer #6 · answered by Ryguy821 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Scott Stevens
#4 Forever!
2007-12-17 19:23:27 · answer #7 · answered by Devin 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh Penguins
2007-12-17 17:56:41 · answer #8 · answered by Jules C 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Jean Belevieu was,and still is the greatest captain of all time.Played on more cup winning teams than Stevie Y. Steve himself would even admit to this.
Mista-Mista,you are close but Edmonton is DEFINITELY Gretzky and Vancouver? How could you forget Stan the Steamer?
2007-12-17 18:02:39 · answer #9 · answered by Top dawg 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Captain Crunch
2007-12-17 19:12:07 · answer #10 · answered by Kohzlick 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋