Mark Messier Leadership Award finalists named

[P. Marlowe 748]

NHL.com

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Since signing with the Bruins on July 1, 2006, Zdeno Chara has led the team on a relentlessly upward climb that this season saw Boston finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Though not yet 22 years old, Sidney Crosby already has established himself as one of the NHL's most respected on-ice leaders as well as a dedicated contributor to his community.

Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames

Growing up in Edmonton idolizing Messier, Iginla has spent his 12 seasons in the NHL following in the Hall of Famer's leadership footsteps.

A thing that I want to bring up here:

ESPN NHL Player Survey

QUESTION 4: WHICH PLAYER COMPLAINS THE MOST ON THE ICE?

Crosby• TOP VOTE-GETTER: Sidney Crosby (52%).

• A simple Google search will tell you what some fans think of Sidney Crosby on the ice ("cry baby" is the most often-used G-rated word); but at various times in his short career, Crosby has been accused of complaining too much to officials about calls or non-calls and embellishing fouls to draw penalties. It was a subject that was heightened during last season's playoffs. Crosby has repeatedly denied being that kind of a player.

Edited June 2, 2009 by P. Marlowe

[Jake Ryan 1]

Individual Awards for Crosby!!! Yay!

[Shaman 713]

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Though not yet 22 years old, Sidney Crosby already has established himself as one of the NHL's most respected on-ice leaders as well as a dedicated contributor to his community.

I dont really think anyone in the NHL ranks him in the top 10 captains or top 15 leaders in the league.

[toby91_ca 620]

I know I am extremely late in this, but I didn't realize this until today. I had always thought the award was simply in Messier's name.....what I didn't realize is that he picks the winner, no voting, other than his one vote for the winner. He solicits input from others however.

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

[egroen 384]

This "award" infuriates me -- what a joke.

Messier, alone, literally picks the winner - what???

This better never be considered a major award.

Messier isn't even amongst the best modern day captains, let alone one of the best in NHL history.

[RedWingsFan4Life 0]

Chara is on the list enough said about the award. What a joke.

[Shaman 713]

This "award" infuriates me -- what a joke.

Messier, alone, literally picks the winner - what???

This better never be considered a major award.

Messier isn't even amongst the best modern day captains, let alone one of the best in NHL history.

Some many people who never got to be wings fans during the Yzerman days will quote stats at you why Messier was such a great captain for the Rangers, but im 100% with you, if anyone should be able to have an award like this it should be someone like Yzerman who was bar none the best captain the NHL will ever see.

[edicius 3,269]

Apologies to any fans of his, but Messier is clearly an idiot.

Of those three, I'd have to begrudgingly choose Iginla, simply because he's the most leader-like out of the three. But that's like trying to choose the healthiest burger at McDonald's.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

Some many people who never got to be wings fans during the Yzerman days will quote stats at you why Messier was such a great captain for the Rangers, but im 100% with you, if anyone should be able to have an award like this it should be someone like Yzerman who was bar none the best captain the NHL will ever see.

couldn't have said it better myself.

leadership is more than gatorade commercials and interviews

[VM1138 1,921]

I guess by default Chara should get it. Iginla is a ****** who leads his team in last minute desperation attacks and Crosby has no leadership skills whatsoever.

[Theophany 110]

Just for reference, he picked Chelios in 06-07, and Mats Sundin in 07-08.

Don't know why he wouldn't pick Lidstrom (obviously one of the best captains ever, since he learned from the best), though I'm not sure about Lidstrom having a large part in charity (which is a caveat to getting the award).

[stevie for president 42]

it just shows that the NHL gives out too many individual awards for a team game.

i love how messier gets to name the winner too. does he go into every locker room, all players only meetings, etc and see what happens? how does he determine who leads his team the best? i dont get it.

[egroen 384]

I can tolerate a dirty captain - and Messier was amongst the dirtiest, but his tenure in Vancouver makes me lose most respect I have for him as a 'leader'. What a ******.

Edited June 2, 2009 by egroen

[WingsCaptain 0]

Bah, more press for Cindy -- the league-appointed "future of hockey."

I'd rather have fist full of Cup rings and Stevie Y walk up and tell me "good job," than the Messier leadership award.

~ Z

[RedWingsFan4Life 0]

I hope Messier blows all his money and then we can collect a fund to bribe him to pick someone really bad.

I would pay him to pick Avery

[Jocke 53]

O M G... I can see why Iginla is there but please, CROSBY known to be a respected leader? Gimme a break..

[tommingthepuck96 1]

Should be iginla, richards and lidstrom. Dont know how the hell crosby is known as a respected leader..

[Ms_Hockey 0]

Hate me all you want, but I think Crosby deserves to be a finalist.

[SweWings 45]

All these guys do a lot for their respective teams and I don't doubt Crosby has grown a lot during his seasons... But enough to be in the top 3? Gimme a break! Iginla should probably be on that list, and I get why Chara is on there but there are so many others that clearly deserve it as much as those two much less Crosby...

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

How come Sean Avery wasn't one of the nominees?

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Call me crazy, but I think Jason Arnott should be nominated over any one of those guys. Now theres one captain that gets little credit, despite the fact that he has essentially no help up front, and is consistently among his teams hardest working players, if not hardest.

[edicius 3,269]

I'll take Joe Sakic, despite the fact that he barely played this season. He's still more of a leader than Crosby, even when injured.

[Guest micah]

Crosby seems to me to be a better Captain than Steve Yzerman was when he took on the C. Go ahead and flame me, but any honest long-time Wings fan will likely agree. Yzerman did not immediately become a great captain. He either couldn't or chose not to motivate his teammates to stay sober, or even to stay out of bars the night before big playoff games. Yzerman became a great Captain, maybe the best ever, but he wasn't great right off the bat. Young Captains expirience a learning curve just like young everythings do. Crosby whines, but he is a better player than Yzerman was at the same age, and his teamates appear to be better behaved and more focussed than Yzerman's were when he was young.

Also, I loathe Mark Messier for being a dirty player who refused to back up his actions for the most part....but he was a great Captain.

[egroen 384]

Crosby seems to me to be a better Captain than Steve Yzerman was when he took on the C. Go ahead and flame me, but any honest long-time Wings fan will likely agree. Yzerman did not immediately become a great captain. He either couldn't or chose not to motivate his teammates to stay sober, or even to stay out of bars the night before big playoff games. Yzerman became a great Captain, maybe the best ever, but he wasn't great right off the bat. Young Captains expirience a learning curve just like young everythings do. Crosby whines, but he is a better player than Yzerman was at the same age, and his teamates appear to be better behaved and more focussed than Yzerman's were when he was young.

Also, I loathe Mark Messier for being a dirty player who refused to back up his actions for the most part....but he was a great Captain.

Still masquerading as a Wings fan?

Crosby has ten times the help Yzerman had in his first ten years - there is simply no comparison to this penguins team and the Wings' teams of the 80s. No captain can do it alone, though I agree it is usually a mistake to hand over a captaincy to such young players.

There is also little comparison to the NHL of today to the 80s, when numerous players smoked and drank regularly and training and nutrition regimens were largely unheard of.

Crosby has been uniformly recognizd by his peers as the biggest whiner in the league, and I have a feeling he played a large part (equal with Therrien) in the free agent penguins exodus during the last off-season.

Messier had a lot of success, but was easily the worst and most self-absorbed and greedy captain in Canucks history. That chapter is a huge blight in measuring Messier as a captain and alone renders him out of the discussion with other great contemporary captains of the time (Yzerman, Sakic, Lemiuex).

Edited June 3, 2009 by egroen