Bad News Benning
Fallin for Dahlin?
I don't think that's quite accurate. The number of European captains who had a legitimate shot at a cup are probably no more than a handful. You probably can't look back more than 15 years to find European captains, whereas the entire breadth of NHL history is full of Canadian leaders. Since the fall of communism I'd hazard a guess and say there hasen't been more than 20 European captains in the league, total.
Sundin, Koivu, Forsberg, Lidstrom, Norstrom etc...are all great leaders and I'm sure no one would have any problem with them as captains.
It's only a matter of time before a European captain wins a Cup and I don't think it should be looked upon as a oddity. It's easier to find examples of Canadian leaders because there have been of them throughout the years.
But hey, if Joe Thornton is good Canadian boy you want leading your squad in the playoffs, more power to you. I'll build my team around Forsberg and we'll see which team goes further.
European captains have had plenty of opportunities to get it done, and not one has lead his team to a cup. Please don't give me the "they were a bottom seed stuff" cause each of the last two finals, canadian players have taken average teams to the stanley cup finals. Since my team (the Canucks) have had Markus Naslund as captain, we've one a single playoff round which was only because the Blues were beat up and had the flu go through their lineup. He has yet to put this team on his shoulders in the playoffs and win anything, and I doubt we will ever go anywhere with him as captain. The culture in europe towards the stanley cup will never allow for great leaders like Sakic, every Canadian dreams of winning the stanley cup where as most european players dream of playing in the NHL.