Toews to be Captain

[Echolalia 2,961]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AjYY...mp;type=fantasy

I guess its to be expected, but I still think its a bit early.

[marcaractac 3,963]

Toews will be the closest thing to the next Yzerman. Good move by the Hawks to make him Captain.

[redwinger4747 6]

Toews will be the closest thing to the next Yzerman. Good move by the Hawks to make him Captain.

I agree. It really boosts your rebuilding when you make a young leader your captain. I think it jump-starts the transition. I felt the same way when Pitt made Crosby captain and I think Washington should make Ovechkin captain. Young, rebuilding teams really need an identity, and nothing works better than a new face of the franchise. I'd also like to see LA do this, maybe with Kopitar (I know its a bold move), but in any case, it should be a young player.

[Hiei 192]

Who the hell else would captain the hawks?

certainly not Robert "He's Lazy and he Sucks " Lang.

good move for Chicago. Maybe actually have a rivalry with actual fans in the stands at the United Center?

[Cicada 4]

he's going to be a great player..

good move by the hawks

[Earthhuman 8]

Not many choices, good move.

I still think the veterans will make themselves heard in the locker room.

Edited July 13, 2008 by Earthhuman

[Jocu 0]

I agree. It really boosts your rebuilding when you make a young leader your captain. I think it jump-starts the transition. I felt the same way when Pitt made Crosby captain and I think Washington should make Ovechkin captain. Young, rebuilding teams really need an identity, and nothing works better than a new face of the franchise. I'd also like to see LA do this, maybe with Kopitar (I know its a bold move), but in any case, it should be a young player.

Just a quick tidbit;

Ovechkin said he was offered the C, but turned it down for now. He wants to learn the English language better first.

Makes sense.

[grsbmd 0]

Just a quick tidbit;

Ovechkin said he was offered the C, but turned it down for now. He wants to learn the English language better first.

Makes sense.

I think he still wears an A, if I remember correctly.

[zata40 3]

Great news for the hawks! That kids going to be a great leader.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Great news for the hawks! That kids going to be a great leader.

First off, I think this is a fine move by the Hawks. Why not make him Captain?

Secondly, I am surprised that its fairly unanimous thus far that people think its a great move despite Toews young age.

Makes me think back to when Crosby was named Captain and 1/2 the people around here wanted to burn down a village they were so angered by the Pens decision.

I recall alot of folks around here saying "he's way too young", etc.....

He didn't get nearly the praise that Toews is getting here. Makes me think those people were full of s*** and that it had nothing to do with age and everything to do with bias against a player.

2 cents

[TheCaptain19 49]

is he going to be younger than crosby? or am i only wishing someone would take something away from him

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Horrible move.

They have a hardworking, clutch player like Lang, and instead they give it to this snot-nosed punk. Unbeilivable.

[Guest Dump-N-Thump]

Sharp? i would given it to sharp

[CAredwingsfan91 28]

thats awesome...congrats to the kid hes definitely gonna be a great player

[redwinger4747 6]

Just a quick tidbit;

Ovechkin said he was offered the C, but turned it down for now. He wants to learn the English language better first.

Makes sense.

Didn't know that, thanks for the info. I think Ovechkin speaks English pretty well and he's ready now, but I guess only he can decide when he wants to take the C.

[VM1138 1,921]

First off, I think this is a fine move by the Hawks. Why not make him Captain?

Secondly, I am surprised that its fairly unanimous thus far that people think its a great move despite Toews young age.

Makes me think back to when Crosby was named Captain and 1/2 the people around here wanted to burn down a village they were so angered by the Pens decision.

I recall alot of folks around here saying "he's way too young", etc.....

He didn't get nearly the praise that Toews is getting here. Makes me think those people were full of s*** and that it had nothing to do with age and everything to do with bias against a player.

2 cents

Or maybe they were right, since Crosby is still a terrible leader. Maybe people just see leadership in Toews where there is none (and was none) in Crosby?

[Casey 145]

Ummm... so Kane's chopped liver?

[Earthhuman 8]

First off, I think this is a fine move by the Hawks. Why not make him Captain?

Secondly, I am surprised that its fairly unanimous thus far that people think its a great move despite Toews young age.

Makes me think back to when Crosby was named Captain and 1/2 the people around here wanted to burn down a village they were so angered by the Pens decision.

I recall alot of folks around here saying "he's way too young", etc.....

He didn't get nearly the praise that Toews is getting here. Makes me think those people were full of s*** and that it had nothing to do with age and everything to do with bias against a player.

2 cents

Nobody wants Yzerman's captaincy record to be broken, but since Crosby is on pace, nobody thinks about it too much anymore. Plus everybody seems to hate him. I think he handles himself pretty well, not sure what the big deal is.

[datsyukonethree 0]

Or maybe they were right, since Crosby is still a terrible leader. Maybe people just see leadership in Toews where there is none (and was none) in Crosby?

Damn straight.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

I'm generally not a fan of young captains... no offense meant to Steve Y as he was a great captain... but it took him a while to get where he was. Aka... he was too young to be a captain!!!

I think Crosby is still too young (and I think he gets picked on as a whiner too because of it).

How does one go from college/minors/free agency pickup to being the leader of a team they just joined. Am I the only one who sees this and just realizes how horrible a business decision it is? So now we've got a 19yr old ordering around men who have been playing the game professionally longer than they have been alive. Making decisions for people who have families, when they have hardly had time for a serious girlfriend. What exactly has made them the perfect fit for captaincy other than being the best player on the team (what makes the best individual player the immediate best candidate for captain?)?

Would you hire on a brand new college graduate (with great grades) to be the general manager of your business without training/grooming them for a year or two first? Would you hire them to be in charge of your employees, many who have long careers with your business?

I also think Toews is too young, but he isn't on a team that's likely to win the cup. I think he can only help over the long run. In his case, I don't think there's much more damage that can be done, so hopefully he can help them out and they will be a contender in 3-4-10 years.

Edited July 13, 2008 by CaliWingsNut

[Earthhuman 8]

I'm generally not a fan of young captains... no offense meant to Steve Y as he was a great captain... but it took him a while to get where he was. Aka... he was too young to be a captain!!!

I think Crosby is still too young (and I think he gets picked on as a whiner too because of it).

How does one go from college/minors/free agency pickup to being the leader of a team they just joined. Am I the only one who sees this and just realizes how horrible a business decision it is? So now we've got a 19yr old ordering around men who have been playing the game professionally longer than they have been alive. Making decisions for people who have families, when they have hardly had time for a serious girlfriend. What exactly has made them the perfect fit for captaincy other than being the best player on the team (what makes the best individual player the immediate best candidate for captain?)?

Would you hire on a brand new college graduate (with great grades) to be the general manager of your business without training/grooming them for a year or two first? Would you hire them to be in charge of your employees, many who have long careers with your business?

I also think Toews is too young, but he isn't on a team that's likely to win the cup. I think he can only help over the long run. In his case, I don't think there's much more damage that can be done, so hopefully he can help them out and they will be a contender in 3-4-10 years.

Yzerman himself said it took a long time to get used to it, and he tended to defer to the older players.

[eva unit zero 271]

First off, I think this is a fine move by the Hawks. Why not make him Captain?

Secondly, I am surprised that its fairly unanimous thus far that people think its a great move despite Toews young age.

Makes me think back to when Crosby was named Captain and 1/2 the people around here wanted to burn down a village they were so angered by the Pens decision.

I recall alot of folks around here saying "he's way too young", etc.....

He didn't get nearly the praise that Toews is getting here. Makes me think those people were full of s*** and that it had nothing to do with age and everything to do with bias against a player.

2 cents

The difference being that Toews doesn't ***** and whine after every play and to the media all the damn time like Crosby does. Sure, LGW probably overstates it to a degree, but Toews is far more captain-ready than Crosby was when given the C.

Also, let's look at the list of veteran players who 'could' have been named captain on the roster of each team at the time of the decision:

Pittsburgh had Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts, Sergei Gonchar, Darryl Sydor. All would have been fine choices. All had been wearing the A for at least part of their tenure in Pittsburgh, and two had been team captains on successful clubs in other cities.

Chicago's roster includes the following veteran players under contract or RFA for next season who have played a game with the club:

Robert Lang, Martin Havlat, Craig Adams, Brent Sopel.

All four of those players' leadership abilities COMBINED don't add up to any of the single players listed above. Adams is a fourth-liner, Sopel is a depth defenseman. Havlat misses half the season, and he and Lang have motivation issues.

Toews is already established as the on-ice leader of that club, and received the C BECAUSE of that. Crosby received the C because there were two sides; there was the established leadership of the club, and there was the best player. Crosby's C was a challenge to him to show that he was more than talent, not a recognition of that fact. This is why much of LGW criticized the move.

Crosby getting the C wasn't necessarily a bad move; but it definitely wasn't as good a move as Toews is.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

The difference being that Toews doesn't ***** and whine after every play and to the media all the damn time like Crosby does. Sure, LGW probably overstates it to a degree, but Toews is far more captain-ready than Crosby was when given the C.

Also, let's look at the list of veteran players who 'could' have been named captain on the roster of each team at the time of the decision:

Pittsburgh had Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts, Sergei Gonchar, Darryl Sydor. All would have been fine choices. All had been wearing the A for at least part of their tenure in Pittsburgh, and two had been team captains on successful clubs in other cities.

Chicago's roster includes the following veteran players under contract or RFA for next season who have played a game with the club:

Robert Lang, Martin Havlat, Craig Adams, Brent Sopel.

All four of those players' leadership abilities COMBINED don't add up to any of the single players listed above. Adams is a fourth-liner, Sopel is a depth defenseman. Havlat misses half the season, and he and Lang have motivation issues.

Toews is already established as the on-ice leader of that club, and received the C BECAUSE of that. Crosby received the C because there were two sides; there was the established leadership of the club, and there was the best player. Crosby's C was a challenge to him to show that he was more than talent, not a recognition of that fact. This is why much of LGW criticized the move.

Crosby getting the C wasn't necessarily a bad move; but it definitely wasn't as good a move as Toews is.

This is a misperception from 2 years ago that only continues to stay alive b/c people like yourself regurgitate it over and over until it apparently becomes true. The more you tell it the more people will believe it. Very Hitler-esque if you ask me. WMD's! WMD's! WMD's!

Until somebody can watch every NHL game and do a comparison of the "bitching and whining" everybody can shut the f*** up about how much Crosby supposedly whines.

How can anybody have any basis for saying he ******* and whines after every play? You don't watch ever game and watch ever player. You can't possibly have the slightest idea how much bitching, whining or arguing players around the league do game in and game out.

Crosby has the spotlight on him so it may seem that he does it more. But any idiot can figure out that doesn't tell the whole story.

I don't know if Crosby is going to be a good leader or not. Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about Crosby b/c he has nothing to do with the Wings. Same goes for Toews.

I just think its funny how hated Crosby can be and therefore everything about him gets magnified and then Toews is named captain and everybody gushes.

I'll say it again, this whole captaincy thing has nothing to do with age or qualities for either of these young players. For many people its simply a matter of hating Crosby.

Do me a favor and show me some quantifiable evidence that Crosby should be singled out for whining or bitching after every play.

I'm so sick of hearing people like you ***** and whine about Crosby bitching and whining. So now i'm bitching and whining about your bitching and whining.

They named Crosby Captain the past season and they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. He handled himself well IMO. Much better than the Pens as a whole or their coach. Some credit needs to be given.

[VM1138 1,921]

Are you kidding? During the Finals EVERY SINGLE PLAY it seemed like Crosby was skating over to a ref, or had this dumbfounded look of disbelief on his face, even if nothing happened, positive or negative. The guy does too much, without realizing the usefulness of various leadership styles.

[egroen 384]

Crosby, especially in his first two years, earned himself a reputation league-wide as being a whiner and a diver. Yes, he gets a lot more attention than virtually every other player and because of this people will look for things to "hate" about him, but that reputation was not completely undeserved. Even Penguins fans, defending him, will say he is much "better" about it and this past year where he lead the Penguins to the SCFs there was very little of it.

But against the Red Wings he was jawing at Zetterberg after the game, and while that shows he is a very competitive person, something you want in a leader, I have a hard time seeing Yzerman, Lidstrom or Zetterberg doing it. Wings fans hate(d) the Avalanche with a passion, but you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who disrespects Sakic as a leader... that ilk, was/is above a lot of Crosby's actions. At least in Detroit, that is the type of leadership we appreciate (like Toews seems inclined to be). There are plenty of other markets that appreciate the fiery, almost agitating captains like Iginla, Hatcher, Morrow etc.

Crosby is a kid, and seems to be maturing, and while it is unfair to compare him to Yzerman -- he is no Yzerman, at least as a leader so far. But for the most part, he is a great person to be the "face" of the NHL -- especially when you consider the faces and superstars of the other pro sports. I just wish the NHL could have more than one "superstar".