The best captains in hockey history

[VanIslander]

Captains have three areas of responsibility:

#1 TEAMMATES

• motivate the guys in the locker room
• lead by example
• be one great enough to follow

#2 THE LEAGUE

• correspond with on-ice officials, especially on calls
• have the authority to convey coach-to-ref decisions

#3 THE PUBLIC

• handle media duties
• represent the team in the public eye

We herald guys who have aspects of the role. But who are guys who personify all three?

(Note: the #1 area has heroes of different parts of it. Who has done everything elite?)

Click to read more...

 

[MadLuke]

Biased obviously, but it is hard to not simply answer mister Beliveau.

For #1 he and his wife are hard to beat, from the play day until death, her seat behind the bench was legendary, she was MTL first lady and in a very rabid hockey market, Beliveau phone number was a regular name with his actual phone number that people called, he answered the door to fans visiting him at his private home.

When Turgeon became captain, tell the story that he went to have super with Beliveau, I never heard a bad word about him, the gravita and his look-stature, the voice, the level of play, the career it is like drawing a captain.

As for leading by example, seem really good as well.

 

[GMR]

 

[frisco]

Sidney Crosby.

My Best-Carey

 

[MadLuke]

Not sure how you start trying to rank Sakic-Yzerman-Bourque with each other, feel like a tier system where I have them mentally close to each other, but I feel the last 6-7 years put them above Toews, auto-immune/resporarity issues make it unfair.

Having to pick, maybe it would be Yzerman-Bourque-Sakic in that order, but feel nitpicky. Never saw or heard anything about them that would make anyfranchise having second thought about making them lifelong captain and face of their franchise (or the league). Crosby joined that tier for me a while ago and he is just cementing it more and more, outside one playoff series against the Flyers and too much ref talk early on, almost a no fault since.

 

[JackSlater]

There's no way any of us can confidently declare anyone the best captain. Certain captains - Beliveau, Yzerman, Messier, Toews etc. - have big reputations and various stories and attestations to how good they were as captains. If I had to pick a captain for an all time team of hockey greats I'd pick Beliveau but there are plenty of good options.

 

[blundluntman]

Won't say Sakic is the greatest of all time, but he's up there over the last 30+ years. Never struck me as a very vocal player in the locker room but he lead by example by always coming up in the clutch, being professional/composed and facing controversy head on. He was so well respected across the league that even Red Wings players wouldn't let Sean Avery chirp him when they were going at it in the early 2000's.

I don't really think any of us can confirm all 3 categories since there's a lot we can't see/hear but Messier and Potvin strike me as two guys that best exemplify all the criteria you mentioned (post expansion anyway). I'd go to war for guys like that as a player

 

[Weztex]

I love Sakic, but to me there's two little stains on an otherwise spotless capitancy. First, his reluctance to deal with the media while in Quebec City, and second, him signing an offer sheet with the Rangers one year after winning the cup. Maybe those aren’t fair points, I don’t know. But personally, they always irked me a little when Iooking at his tenure.

As for Toews, the whole Kyle Beach situation left a lot of questions about his dealing with locker room situations. A lot…

 

[VanIslander]

Having to pick, maybe it would be Yzerman-Bourque-Sakic in that order,...

Agreed, for their generation
(though Sakic limited, as discussed).
Beliveau, as stated.
Messier, for sure.

 

[VanIslander]

I want to add Canuck captain Luongo but the league (the NHL brass) didn't approve of a goalie being captain - the 1st such in over half a century - refusing to allow him to wear a 'C' on his jersey (he put it on his mask ) and he wasn't allowed to rep the team with on-ice officials. So, he coulda, shoulda, woulda been on this list, as he still tried to fill the role by giving refs an earful.

Epilogue: Kesler said it was bull. The two of them then led the team to the Stanley Cup Finals, then were traded away (kept were the inept twins in both round 1 and the finals, they having harvested greatly on the powerplay against a pk woeful San Jose squad inbetween).

 

[The Panther]

Monsieur Béliveau will see you now... if he deems you worthy....

 

[The Panther]

I mean, if we're being honest here, none of us can say who really is and isn't a "good" captain. We get to see about 2% of it, and then only the public mask, not the real guy.

Yzerman is an interesting case. I feel like (just my meaningless subjective impression) he was less vocal in the late-80s when still a young guy, and then became more of a speak-out guy when he was a grizzled veteran. Chelios tells the story of his first few games in Detroit, circa 1999, when he decided to leave his check to help out Yzerman, who was getting worked over in front of the net. Their opponent scored, and later Chelios says Yzerman reamed him out for leaving his check. Chelios says he was somewhat intimidated by Yzerman... which isn't necessarily bad. I think Yzerman, as a young guy, was really disliked by referees. Yzerman also had that brief period when he was frustrated by Bowman and once or twice kind of sounded off to the media about it.

 

[MadLuke]

There is some strong external sign at some level, someone loosing is captaincy (or deciding to remove the c) versus someone that keep it from 20 to retirement.

For Yzerman, Robitaille, I think, said he had a strong reputation to be the kind that organized out of rings activities and super for new arrival and so on, but that could have been the 90s era and that went he joined the team himself he did find it to be true.

If Patrice Bergeron was not a good captain and being a good captain is something that do exist, that would be quite the surprise.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Syl Apps

 

[JackSlater]

Won't say Sakic is the greatest of all time, but he's up there over the last 30+ years. Never struck me as a very vocal player in the locker room but he lead by example by always coming up in the clutch, being professional/composed and facing controversy head on. He was so well respected across the league that even Red Wings players wouldn't let Sean Avery chirp him when they were going at it in the early 2000's.

I don't really think any of us can confirm all 3 categories since there's a lot we can't see/hear but Messier and Potvin strike me as two guys that best exemplify all the criteria you mentioned (post expansion anyway). I'd go to war for guys like that as a player

Potvin is an interesting case. Definitely seems like he matured into a good leader, but early on when he was New York's best player (but not yet captain) he seems to have alienated his teammates quite a bit. This Sports Illustrated article talks about it, and I think that there is a New York Times article out there that goes into detail on it too.

UNDAUNTED AND UNHAUNTED

Basically a case of young prodigy doesn't understand why his non-superstar teammates cannot play like a superstar and live a superstar lifestyle. The Orr thing too.

I mean, if we're being honest here, none of us can say who really is and isn't a "good" captain. We get to see about 2% of it, and then only the public mask, not the real guy.

Yzerman is an interesting case. I feel like (just my meaningless subjective impression) he was less vocal in the late-80s when still a young guy, and then became more of a speak-out guy when he was a grizzled veteran. Chelios tells the story of his first few games in Detroit, circa 1999, when he decided to leave his check to help out Yzerman, who was getting worked over in front of the net. Their opponent scored, and later Chelios says Yzerman reamed him out for leaving his check. Chelios says he was somewhat intimidated by Yzerman... which isn't necessarily bad. I think Yzerman, as a young guy, was really disliked by referees. Yzerman also had that brief period when he was frustrated by Bowman and once or twice kind of sounded off to the media about it.

Yzerman definitely had that reputation. I remember a ref or two citing him as possibly the worst complainer at that time, and a particularly harsh complainer who would piss the ref off with his tone. Temperamental I guess.

I remember reading Hitchcock talking about the 2002 Olympics before and citing Lemieux, Yzerman, and MacInnis as big leaders on the team. Lemieux and Yzerman are the obvious, but you don't hear about MacInnis all that much in that way. We pretty much never get the full picture when it comes to who is or is not a leader, or to what degree, of course.

 

[jigglysquishy]

I recently finished Trottier's book and was quite surprised at how Potvin is basically unmentioned in the book. Did they have a fallout or bad relationship that I missed? He speaks positively of Gillies, Smith, and Goring. He heaps massive praise on Bossy and Arbour. He speaks quite well of Mario Lemieux and Scotty Bowman and Bob Johnson.

Non teammates like Tiger Williams and Guy Lafleur get praised. He worshipped at the alter of Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau.

He doesn't even give passing praise to Potvin.

 

[Michael Farkas]

A lot of guesswork for this thread obviously, but having been in the arena, seen it plenty on screen, and having talked to some of his teammates (though I've never been in the room with him) - Scott Stevens should be in this thread somewhere.

 

[MadLuke]

We pretty much never get the full picture when it comes to who is or is not a leader, or to what degree, of course.

True I was a bit surprised by how much Roy talked as if Bourque was the real captain of the Avalanche (and apparently Sakic did offer him the C, which Bourque refused, I am not sure if that story does not make both sound like even better leader than before...), one would just imagine that cup winner-smythe Captain since 1993, lifelong franchise face would have been the clear leader.

One yet to be named and could be named for only things we could see is obviously Gretzky, a bit a super version of Crosby and some others in the sport in the, level of effort, preparation, training, while being the best player on the team, how can you be a third liner on that team and not play and practice hard... Was a good public face for the league, obviously, still work in media today.

 

[JackSlater]

I recently finished Trottier's book and was quite surprised at how Potvin is basically unmentioned in the book. Did they have a fallout or bad relationship that I missed? He speaks positively of Gillies, Smith, and Goring. He heaps massive praise on Bossy and Arbour. He speaks quite well of Mario Lemieux and Scotty Bowman and Bob Johnson.

Non teammates like Tiger Williams and Guy Lafleur get praised. He worshipped at the alter of Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau.

He doesn't even give passing praise to Potvin.

Potvin seems like a guy you'd love to have on the ice with you but hate to have at the dinner table with you.

 

[frisco]

George Armstrong, Teeder Kennedy, Bobby Clarke amongst those who haven't been mentioned yet.

My Best-Carey

 

[gretzkyoilers]

When the Oilers had their reunion for the 1984 cup it seems like the entire team had high praise for Gretzky. Mind you they were a tight group, but Wayne seemed to hit all 3 points mentioned by the OP during the Oilers dynasty.

 

[carjackmalone]

Bobby Clarke

 

[blundluntman]

Potvin is an interesting case. Definitely seems like he matured into a good leader, but early on when he was New York's best player (but not yet captain) he seems to have alienated his teammates quite a bit. This Sports Illustrated article talks about it, and I think that there is a New York Times article out there that goes into detail on it too.

UNDAUNTED AND UNHAUNTED

Basically a case of young prodigy doesn't understand why his non-superstar teammates cannot play like a superstar and live a superstar lifestyle. The Orr thing too.


Yzerman definitely had that reputation. I remember a ref or two citing him as possibly the worst complainer at that time, and a particularly harsh complainer who would piss the ref off with his tone. Temperamental I guess.

I remember reading Hitchcock talking about the 2002 Olympics before and citing Lemieux, Yzerman, and MacInnis as big leaders on the team. Lemieux and Yzerman are the obvious, but you don't hear about MacInnis all that much in that way. We pretty much never get the full picture when it comes to who is or is not a leader, or to what degree, of course.

Very very good read. Didn't know about his rocky start but it makes sense given his temperament and the crazy expectations he had as a prospect. Pretty shocked at his comments on Orr in 76 but the turnaround from that speech is movie-esque. That locker room speech gives captain esque vibes given the accountability/confidence and turnaround that followed

 

[blundluntman]

I recently finished Trottier's book and was quite surprised at how Potvin is basically unmentioned in the book. Did they have a fallout or bad relationship that I missed? He speaks positively of Gillies, Smith, and Goring. He heaps massive praise on Bossy and Arbour. He speaks quite well of Mario Lemieux and Scotty Bowman and Bob Johnson.

Non teammates like Tiger Williams and Guy Lafleur get praised. He worshipped at the alter of Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau.

He doesn't even give passing praise to Potvin.

That's pretty strange actually. From what I've read, they seemed to have had a good relationship through and through. Potvin's on record saying he respected him more than anyone else in the league. They announced the release an NFT in 2021 a year before the book came out so it's hard to imagine they weren't on decent terms

 

[JackSlater]

Very very good read. Didn't know about his rocky start but it makes sense given his temperament and the crazy expectations he had as a prospect. Pretty shocked at his comments on Orr in 76 but the turnaround from that speech is movie-esque. That locker room speech gives captain esque vibes given the accountability/confidence and turnaround that followed

This article also talks about early Potvin, but goes into more detail about the turnaround

THE CHANGING LIVES OF DENIS POTVIN (Published 1984)

"When Potvin talks about his teammates now it is with an affection that seems almost studied compared with his previous relationship with them. In his early years he separated himself from them physically and emotionally.

He recalls that at first he lived with many of them in Westbury, L.I. But then he moved to the more chic Garden City. He wondered aloud at the time why many of his teammates never availed themselves of New York City, never made the sort of friends he did. He was alienated from many of his teammates, but patched things up one day in a locker-room psychodrama. It was an emotional scene in which his teammates told him he had alienated them with what appeared to be put-downs of the way they lived compared with him. Potvin, for his part, conceded these failings and said he would try to change.

In the 1979-80 season they voted him their captain."

Also from the article: ''At the beginning of my career,'' he says, ''I had no time for anyone else because of my goals and ambitions. Now, my concern for my teammates shows through. In the last few years I had some trying off-the-ice problems, but none that left me so empty as my Dad dying.''

It's a nice read overall. Talks about Potvin's early ego and issues with teammates, his changing style of play at Arbour's insistence, and his struggles in the 1984 playoffs after his father died plus a divorce at the beginning of the season.

POTVIN FITTING IN, STANDING APART (Published 1985)

The above is also a good read. Talks a lot about Potvin's notable ego, but how he could relate to teammates much better later in his career. Paints a picture as Arbour as the leader of the team, at least in terms of building and directing Islanders culture. Also has Potvin talking about how he tried to pattern his game after Harvey because he knew he couldn't skate like Orr.