We take a break from your regularly scheduled programming of player evals to talk about something that was brought up recently in the comment section of the last post.
Captains.
They are valued at the NHL level in a somewhat mystical and arcane way. Why? Because it's always about the room and the guys within. The leaders in the room. The leaders on the ice. Reporters only have access to so much, so knowing if someone is a good captain or not based on close door meetings, practices, and behind the scenes stuff is a little difficult. Most the time we just know what we are told.
Jonathan Toews is a good captain. Why? Well, uh, because he is. He's a winner. He's competitive. He's mature. Isn't that like 75-percent of the league though? Why isn't Patrick Kane a captain then? The answer to that is fairly obvious though. The reality is is that it has little to do with skill and on-ice reputation.
The NHL has a plethora of captains of different styles and approaches to the game. Steve Ott, for example, was the captain of the Buffalo Sabres this past year. No offense to Steve Ott, but if it was based on skill do you think he would be a captain? Another example is Bryce Salvador, who is the current captain of the New Jersey Devils. Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin, Mikko Koivu, Andrew Ference, Dustin Brown, etc. etc.
It's not always just the best guy on the team. There is a certain attitude and identity each player carries that is good enough for the coach and management to say, "We want that guy to have the C on his sweater."
So what about Drew Doughty? Where does he land in a potential captains role? Some day? Never? Does he even have that leadership ability in him?
A quick glance at the 24-year old's history reveals that he's never been more than an alternate captain on two separate occasions. Once was with the Canadian U18 WJC team back in 2006-07 (a team that was captained by Angelo Esposito), and the other was with the Guelph Storm in 2007-08.
In terms of competitiveness, skill, and on-ice play, I don't think it gets much better than Drew Doughty. He has accomplished more than what 99% of the league will ever accomplish already in a six-year tenure in the NHL. World Junior championships, two gold medals, two stanley cups, it's all been done already. But again, is that captain material?
Doughty does show flashes of immaturity on the ice though, and that same competitiveness and fire that makes him a great player also makes him a little less of a captain. The undisciplined penalties here and there, the emotions, the chirping, and who could forget his reaction to Chris Kreider taking a few liberties with the butt end of his stick during the finals.
He finally did settle down and focus on the game only after alternate captain Matt Greene came over and spoke with him.
It's moments like those where you think that maybe he isn't quite ready yet.
That being said, he is making progress. Dustin Brown had a great quote in a Fox Sports West article by Abbey Mastraco,
"It's his leadership capabilities that he's starting to harness and develop. I don't think I really expected him to do it two, three years ago when he was a younger guy, but now with our group, we already have a lot of people in place and it's about him taking that step," said Kings captain Dustin Brown. "If he wants to be so-called 'The Guy' he needs to have that part of it. You can't just be a superstar on the ice and not be in a leadership role in some capacity."
The full article can be found here.
It's a very fine balancing act. Or so it would seem. You hear people say things about Alex Ovechkin (Or as Sam Hauslohner of The Hockey Writers calls him,
The Anti-Captain) or Dion Phaneuf, that perhaps they are better players without the C on their sweater. Why is that? What significance is a voice in a closed room and a letter on your chest? In reality it's about having to play with someone else in mind all the time. Hockey is an individual sport as much as it is a team sport. Great individual plays make good teams better. They can make differences. You need those guys to worry about being individual players because that's what works best for them. Would putting the C on Patrick Kane's jersey make him think twice before forcing a pass or getting too emotional in game? Maybe, maybe not. It might change his approach to the game. Would putting the C on Drew Doughty make him a less emotional player? An emotion that he thrives upon to pump himself up? Maybe, maybe not. Those kinds of players have fun with the game, and putting that sort of responsibility on them may take away the fun.
Doughty has a natural leadership. Why? Because he's one of the best players on the ice. It's that simple. But should he be a captain? Will he ever be a captain? That's a pretty difficult question to approach.
Much like Vin Scully describes the Dodgers young Cuban outfielder, Yasiel Puig, Doughty is a wild horse. To tame him would be to take away some of the enthusiasm that makes him such a wonderful player. Is putting a C on him a taming act? You decide. I know that hockey needs just as many guys without C's on their chest as they do players with them. Patrick Kane is not a captain. Drew Doughty is not a captain. Tyler Seguin is not a captain. Corey Perry is not a captain. It doesn't make them any less of a player or a contributor. You don't have to have a letter on the front of your sweater to be a leader.
Then on the other side of things there are guys who are simply made for the job. Dustin Brown, David Backes, Sidney Crosby, Joe Tho...., uh Gabriel Landeskog, etc. etc. When you watch them play and listen to the interviews it is apparent they have a quality of leadership about them. It's also about the team around them. Brown has Kopitar, Greene, and Richards. Toews has Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp. Bryce Salvador has Patrick Elias, Travis Zajac, and Andy Greene. It's leadership by committee in many cases. These groups carry the banner for their team both on and off the ice. Maybe too much stress is put on the significance of a captain group, but down 0-3 in a series, down two goals in a game seven, it has to make some difference.
Maybe in the later stages of his career we see a calm overtake Doughty, and he is able to confidently lead an NHL team in the locker room. Perhaps he steps into that role of secondary leadership in the near future with the Kings. For now though, he is absolutely fine being Drew Doughty.
Who is Drew Doughty?
Let the wild horse do his thing.
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