DaveMatthew
Bring in Peter
Yeah EK doesn’t touch Alfie in this particular regard, kind of a Federov vs Yzerman situation.
EK was amazing for us, legend really, but like Spezza should probably never been captain of the team. I would have liked for us to have just let EK be the free and clear superstar, and let a guy like Stone be the guy where the buck stopped.
That’s not really fair. Neither Karlsson nor Spezza were given the time to grow into the role of being captain.
Spezza was captain for 1 season and left the team when he was 30.
Karlsson was captain for 4 seasons and left the team when he was 27.
Between the ages of 27-30, Alfredsson’s reputation was not what it is today. His resume was littered with playoff disappointments. At 30, he had been captain for 4 seasons and:
• We had lost to the Leafs 3 times, including a first round sweep
• The one year we made it through to the ECF, he was more of a passenger, scoring just 4 goals and 8 points in 18 games
He was viewed, by many, as a bad leader and choker. People wanted a Gary Roberts to be captain, not a quiet, “skilled but soft” Swede.
But the team committed to him, re-shuffled the deck chairs around him, and between the ages of 32-39, he became the clutch player and leader we now remember.
Luckily, the criticism was contained to newspaper columns and talk radio, because in today’s world of Twitter, podcasts, blogs and 24/7 sports analysis, I don’t think he would’ve lasted in this market past 03/04. He would have been run out of town. He almost was.
(And it’s not just this market. Look at what’s happening in Toronto. Mitch Marner is 24 and has been declared a career loser. Mats Sundin didn’t win a round until he was 28. Doug Gilmour was 29 when he took them on their run.)
Hopefully we have more patience if Tkachuk or Chabot are made captain. Not everyone can be a Crosby or Toews.
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