Jonathan Toews has been the subject of a lot of criticism over the past couple seasons for his performance. Even with that, he still has the respect of the hockey community.
The latest evidence comes through in NHL Network’s ‘Top Captains Of All-Time’ list. It isn’t surprising that he is on the list but some of the names he’s ahead of may surprise many hockey fans.
Toews being ahead of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby even has this Blackhawks fan scratching his head. We’ll take goals out of the equation because we all know that those guys score a lot more. These are generational players whose teams would have a hard time thriving without them.
Wayne Gretzky led one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history from 1983-1988. The Oilers won 4 Stanley Cups in 5 seasons with The Great One donning the C. Not to mention he led the league in scoring 4 times during that period. The only knock against the guy is that he played alongside Mark Messier during that time, you can see where he is on that list.
Gretzky did go on to lead a struggling and aging LA Kings team to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993. I believe the ultimate testament to 99’s ability to lead is his 1,963 assists. That is more assists than the NHL’s second all-time leading scorer has total points (Jagr 1,914).
Overlapping Gretzky’s career was quite possibly the second best NHL player in history, Mario Lemieux. Le Magnifique wore the C for 12 seasons as a member of the Penguins and won back to back Stanley Cup championships in 92 and 93. He played through back pain for a large part of his career and even came back from cancer to captain the Penguins a few more times. It’s hard to question the fortitude and leadership of Lemieux.
I know people will complain that I’m going to say Sidney Crosby is a better captain than Toews, but he might be. He’s not always a crybaby but a lot the time he’s talking to the officials, he’s massaging them. Just think MIchael Jordan, he was always in a ref’s ear and getting calls. Sid has incredible practice habits that many believe to be unrivaled. He is key to the Penguins as well as Team Canada’s success. There’s a reason he is always chosen for the Team Canada honor ahead of Toews.
If you would have asked me three years earlier I would certainly have had Toews ahead of Crosby. The reason I have flipped is because of the great job Sid is doing to keep his aging core going. It’s been the opposite from Toews and he seems to be flustered much more than he ever was. At times he’s seemed more like Captain Angry more than Captain Serious.
You can’t quantify leadership skills but you can quantify just about everything else Gretzky, Lemieux and Crosby have done. As I said before, these are generational guys who have done a lot of things for their teams that Toews hasn’t. Toews is a fantastic leader and has countless intangibles but it’s hard to put him ahead of these players.
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