http://www.sportsfanmagazine.com/sfm/topic.html?id=2294
Mark Messier and Scott Stevens - along with Al MacInnis, Ron Francis, Jim Gregory, Dave Fay and Bill Hewitt - were elected to Hockey's Hall of Fame last week, which didn't prompt a debate about who was the better leader.
Frankly, it should have. Messier is widely regarded as "Hockey's Greatest Leader" and the NHL's most wonderful ambassadors. But let's look at Messier and Stevens and their records as captains.
While Messier won six Stanley Cups, only two were without Gretzky and using him as captain. Let's not forget the last eight years he spent outside of the chase for Lord Stanley's Cup. Stevens captained New Jersey to three.
Messier missed the post-season seven consecutive times to finish his career. Stevens missed the playoffs twice in his entire career, and once was due to a concussion. In fact, the concussion might be the only reason No. 4 in red and black isn't still out there. Who knows? While Stevens had been banged up a few times the last couple years, he was a warhorse out there. But Stevens never overstayed his welcome in the spotlight. He got out when it was both his time and what his body dictated. We can debate that "Messiah" shouldn't have stuck it out for more than a year in New York.
Let's look at the final determination of great leadership: Its effect on others around you, and those up against you. While Messier inspired his teammates to some wonderful victories, he never changed the way you played the game. That's where Scott Stevens made the difference: He was more fear-instilling than when Ed Norton curb-stomps that dude in "American History X."
Ask such NHL luminaries such as Lindros, Kariya, and fellow Hall of Famer Ron Francis what effect Stevens had on their lives and careers, and that will tell you that Stevens was the better leader.
A post-script on the HHOF induction ceremony: W-T-F, Pat Quinn? Do you have that little class that you cannot applaud someone whose life achievements are being celebrated? For those who were watching Hurricanes-Panthers on VERSUS in the U.S. and Monday Night Football Canada's TSN (New Rule: No games on HHOF induction night) or just didn't care to find it, Quinn and his wife sat on their hands while Stevens was headed to the podium. What, was there a rule that anyone without a Cup wasn't allowed to be happy?
Something I am enjoying about the NHL season so far, is that the stars are being stars in the league. Look at the Top 10 Scorers...Lecavalier, Crosby, Zetterberg, Kovalchuk, Sundin, Malkin, Iginla, Brind'Amour, St. Louis and Alfredsson. But I also like seeing the fresh faces that fill up the second tier, like Mike Richards of Philadelphia, Justin Williams of the 'Canes, and "Love Train" Patrick Kane (New Rule: My 12-year-old brother can't look older than an NHL Leading Scorer) of the Blackhawks. The NHL is continuing to cycle in new meat with the usuals.
Working in an NFL stadium has provided me with the chance to meet interesting people, and to question their hockey knowledge. I have to say, the 60,000 Steelers fans that filled the Meadowlands against the Jets (Take that, Wyshynski) knew as much about their hockey team as they did their football team. Since that seems too positive an end to this column, let's share the Top 2 insults to give to a Pittsburgh sports fan:
1. "Pittsburgh, eh? Great minor-league ball club you got there."
2. "So what's it like to have the first teenage girl captaining a hockey team?"
-SFM-
Thursday, November 22, 2007
November 8th Column
http://www.sportsfanmagazine.com/sfm/topic.html?id=2282
I think it's time for Tom Renney to go in New York.
While Renney has done a great job with the Rangers, given them life in a crowded sports market that long left them for dead, given them a face that was so anti-Rangers (i.e. friendly), and brought along young players like Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel Girardi and Ryan Hollweg, I'm just not convinced he's the man to take the Rangers over the top. The fact that they've started out under .500 is not why I'm going after Renney. It's the fact that they just don't seem to be the machine that they should be. The Rangers need a motivator, a cheerleader, who can give these mega-million dollar super-stars like Jagr, Drury, Gomez, Shanahan and Lundqvist the space to do what they want. Let them carry the team.
Currently, the Rangers are stuck playing a very obvious neutral zone trap (Irony!), which is so not the system a club with the offensive talent they have needs to play. Why John Madden and Jay Pandolfo have scored more goals than any player on the New York Rangers is beyond me. I'm convinced that the Blueshirts need a coach who will loosen the strings on the offense, and Renney's not that guy.
Michael Cammalleri is a pleasant surprise this season. Only Zetterburg and Kovalchuk have more goals (and Kovy needed six in two games to pass him) than the league's best Jewish player, and he is giving the Kings something they haven't had since Zigmund Palffy scored 37 in 02-03, a bona-fide scorer (yeah, I don't remember that either). At 25 years old, Cammalleri will like increase his NHL goal totals for a third straight season, and possibly match the 46 he scored in Manchester of the AHL during the lockout. It's wonderful to see new stars just sort of emerge in this league. The best part? He's locked up for at least this year and next year, so he's not even playing for a contract. Imagine what the benjamin influence does to his numbers in 08-09.
Congratulations to the Islanders for getting it right on Saturday at the Nassau Mausoleum. The "let's have the greatest coach in NHL history coach a game" thing worked out pretty well. Ted Nolan did most of the work, with Arbour being used as more of a motivational ploy (Al couldn't remember Garth Snow and Charles Wang's names at the post-game press conference). However, it just felt right. The Isles came back after Sidney Crosby played baseball with Rick DiPietro's face to win 3-2. Afterwards, they took down Arbour's "739" banner and raised one that said "1,500." One that reads "740" will be raised to the rafters later this year, when the orange and blue celebrate the players who were with the team for all four Stanley Cup Championships. While the Isles future on Long Island is questionable until they get the Coliseum renovated, they honor their storied past like no other franchise.
Wade Redden will not be an Ottawa Senator next season. Oh, I'm sorry, the headline was supposed to read "Jason Spezza will be an Ottawa Senator for the next seven years." Ah well, same difference. After signing Spezza for a cap hit of around $7 million, the Sens will have around $18 million invested in the big three of Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson. Mike Fisher's also received a lot of money, and Ottawa's got $31 Million in salary already, with Andrej Meszaros, Patrick Eaves and Antoinne Vermette due a big raise as RFAs this Summer. Figure that Redden can command in the $6 Million range, and it'll likely be a big-market American club (Los Angeles?) picking up one of the more solid free agent D-men next season.
Let's end on a happy note. The Blackhawks lined up a kid named Dustin Byfuglien (Pronounced simply BUFF-lin) against the Blues on Saturday night. It was Byfuglien's first National Hockey League game after being called up from Chicago's AHL affiliate in Rockford, IL. Why is this worth noting? Because, as this 2005 story from HamptonRoads.com, and reported when Chicago's farm team was in Norfolk, Virginia, Dustin's story is a very complex, uplifting tale.
(LINK: http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=97410&ran=166932)
Born to a black father and a white mother who never married, Dustin group up in a Roseau, Minnesota trailer park with very little money. While his mother worked for the Polaris snowmobile plant, Dustin cared about little else but hockey. He lived it, and got on his local indoor rink whenever he could. He seemed a natural to lead Roseau High (alumni include the three Broten brothers) to continued glory in high school hockey, but a lack of attentiveness and poor grades kept him ineligible for the team. However, after latching on to a team in Chicago, some junior scouts noticed him, and brought him to the WHL, where he played for four years before, in the mean-time being drafted in the 8th round by the Blackhawks, and finally hooked on to the AHL's Norfolk Admirals in 2005-06.
After a cup of coffee in the NHL in 05-06, and 06-07, he was called up to the big boys again for Saturday's game, and scored a goal less than five minutes in. The NHL could use more rags-to-riches story, to show off that it's not merely sport for middle-class (at worst) white boys with the money to play the sport. While Dustin's mother took out loans to help her boy play, there are now numerous programs in every NHL market that give any kid with the interest the ability to play. Dustin Byfuglien can show these kids the way if he sticks around.
Steve Lepore is a columnist for SportsFan Magazine.
I think it's time for Tom Renney to go in New York.
While Renney has done a great job with the Rangers, given them life in a crowded sports market that long left them for dead, given them a face that was so anti-Rangers (i.e. friendly), and brought along young players like Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel Girardi and Ryan Hollweg, I'm just not convinced he's the man to take the Rangers over the top. The fact that they've started out under .500 is not why I'm going after Renney. It's the fact that they just don't seem to be the machine that they should be. The Rangers need a motivator, a cheerleader, who can give these mega-million dollar super-stars like Jagr, Drury, Gomez, Shanahan and Lundqvist the space to do what they want. Let them carry the team.
Currently, the Rangers are stuck playing a very obvious neutral zone trap (Irony!), which is so not the system a club with the offensive talent they have needs to play. Why John Madden and Jay Pandolfo have scored more goals than any player on the New York Rangers is beyond me. I'm convinced that the Blueshirts need a coach who will loosen the strings on the offense, and Renney's not that guy.
Michael Cammalleri is a pleasant surprise this season. Only Zetterburg and Kovalchuk have more goals (and Kovy needed six in two games to pass him) than the league's best Jewish player, and he is giving the Kings something they haven't had since Zigmund Palffy scored 37 in 02-03, a bona-fide scorer (yeah, I don't remember that either). At 25 years old, Cammalleri will like increase his NHL goal totals for a third straight season, and possibly match the 46 he scored in Manchester of the AHL during the lockout. It's wonderful to see new stars just sort of emerge in this league. The best part? He's locked up for at least this year and next year, so he's not even playing for a contract. Imagine what the benjamin influence does to his numbers in 08-09.
Congratulations to the Islanders for getting it right on Saturday at the Nassau Mausoleum. The "let's have the greatest coach in NHL history coach a game" thing worked out pretty well. Ted Nolan did most of the work, with Arbour being used as more of a motivational ploy (Al couldn't remember Garth Snow and Charles Wang's names at the post-game press conference). However, it just felt right. The Isles came back after Sidney Crosby played baseball with Rick DiPietro's face to win 3-2. Afterwards, they took down Arbour's "739" banner and raised one that said "1,500." One that reads "740" will be raised to the rafters later this year, when the orange and blue celebrate the players who were with the team for all four Stanley Cup Championships. While the Isles future on Long Island is questionable until they get the Coliseum renovated, they honor their storied past like no other franchise.
Wade Redden will not be an Ottawa Senator next season. Oh, I'm sorry, the headline was supposed to read "Jason Spezza will be an Ottawa Senator for the next seven years." Ah well, same difference. After signing Spezza for a cap hit of around $7 million, the Sens will have around $18 million invested in the big three of Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson. Mike Fisher's also received a lot of money, and Ottawa's got $31 Million in salary already, with Andrej Meszaros, Patrick Eaves and Antoinne Vermette due a big raise as RFAs this Summer. Figure that Redden can command in the $6 Million range, and it'll likely be a big-market American club (Los Angeles?) picking up one of the more solid free agent D-men next season.
Let's end on a happy note. The Blackhawks lined up a kid named Dustin Byfuglien (Pronounced simply BUFF-lin) against the Blues on Saturday night. It was Byfuglien's first National Hockey League game after being called up from Chicago's AHL affiliate in Rockford, IL. Why is this worth noting? Because, as this 2005 story from HamptonRoads.com, and reported when Chicago's farm team was in Norfolk, Virginia, Dustin's story is a very complex, uplifting tale.
(LINK: http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=97410&ran=166932)
Born to a black father and a white mother who never married, Dustin group up in a Roseau, Minnesota trailer park with very little money. While his mother worked for the Polaris snowmobile plant, Dustin cared about little else but hockey. He lived it, and got on his local indoor rink whenever he could. He seemed a natural to lead Roseau High (alumni include the three Broten brothers) to continued glory in high school hockey, but a lack of attentiveness and poor grades kept him ineligible for the team. However, after latching on to a team in Chicago, some junior scouts noticed him, and brought him to the WHL, where he played for four years before, in the mean-time being drafted in the 8th round by the Blackhawks, and finally hooked on to the AHL's Norfolk Admirals in 2005-06.
After a cup of coffee in the NHL in 05-06, and 06-07, he was called up to the big boys again for Saturday's game, and scored a goal less than five minutes in. The NHL could use more rags-to-riches story, to show off that it's not merely sport for middle-class (at worst) white boys with the money to play the sport. While Dustin's mother took out loans to help her boy play, there are now numerous programs in every NHL market that give any kid with the interest the ability to play. Dustin Byfuglien can show these kids the way if he sticks around.
Steve Lepore is a columnist for SportsFan Magazine.
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