el Capitan

With the recent promotions of the new class of Captains around the League, I thought it would be interesting to take a deeper look into all the demographics of team leaders. Of course I wasn't the only one who had this idea. But fuck it why waste a halfway decent post. Lets list them out first shall we? But first let me read a disclaimer... All of these were taken from each team's roster on their individual webpage, so if they're not up to date, oh fucking well, that's what I was going by, not who got new A's sewn on their jersey on gameday. I put a limit of three Alternates on each team as far as spelling out their stats, committees are listed by name only, I don't buy that purple participation ribbon's for everyone bullshit.

Anaheim
C - Scott Niedermayer, D, 36 years old, Canada, $6.75mil (Highest), 5th season on team
A - Ryan Getzlaf, C, 24 years old, Canada, $5.325mil, 5th season on team (Drafted)
A - Saku Koivu, C, 35 years old, Finland, $3.25mil, 1st season on team

Atlanta
C - Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, 26 years old, Russia, $6.39mil (Highest), 8th season on team (Drafted)
A - Colby Armstrong, RW, 27 years old, Canada, $2.4mil, 3rd season on team
A - Vyacheslav Kozlov, LW, 37 years old, Russia, $3.67mil, 7th season on team

Boston
C - Zdeno Chara, D, 32 years old, Slovakia, $7.5mil (Highest), 4th season on team
A - Patrice Bergeron, C, 24 years old, Canada, $4.75mil, 6th season on team (Drafted)

Buffalo
C - Craig Rivet, D, 35 years old, Canada, $3.5mil, 2nd season on team

Calgary
C - Jarome Iginla, RW, 32 years old, Canada, $7mil (Highest), 14th season on team
A - Craig Conroy, C, 38 years old, United States, $1.05mil, 4th season (8 total) on team
A - Jay Bouwmeester, D, 26 years old, Canada, $6.68mil, 1st season on team
A - Robyn Regehr, D, 29 years old, Brazil (Canada), $4.02mil, 1oth season on team

Carolina
C - Eric Staal, LW, 25 years old, Canada, $8.25mil (Highest), 6th season on team (Drafted)
A - Rod Brind'Amour, C, 39 years old, Canada, $3.6mil, 10th season on team
A - Ray Whitney, LW, 37 years old, Canada, $3.55mil, 5th season on team

Chicago
C - Jonathan Toews, C, 21 years old, Canada, $6.3mil (Highest), 3rd season on team (Drafted)
A - Patrick Sharp, RW, 28 years old, Canada, $3.9mil, 5th season on team
A - Duncan Keith, D, 26 years old, Canada, $5.54mil, 5th season on team - (Drafted)

Colorado
C - Adam Foote, D, 38 years old, Canada, $3mil, 3rd season (15 total) on team - (Drafted)
A - Milan Hejduk, RW, 33 years old, Czech Rep., $3mil, 11th season on team - (Drafted)
A - Paul Stastny, C, 24 years old, United States, $6.6mil (Highest), 4th season on team - (Drafted)

Columbus
C - Rick Nash, RW, 25 years old, Canada, $7.8mil (Highest), 7th season on team (Drafted)
A - Derek Dorsett, Fredrik Modin, R.J. Umberger, Antoine Vermette, Mike Commodore, Rostislav Klesla

Dallas
C - Brenden Morrow, LW, 31 years old, Canada, $4.1mil, 10th season on team (Drafted)
A - Mike Modano, Steve Ott, Brad Richards, Stephane Robidas

Detroit
C - Nicklas Lidstrom, D, 39 years old, Sweden, $7.45mil (Highest), 18th season on team (Drafted)
A - Pavel Datysuk, C, 31 years old, Russia, $6.7mil, 8th season on team (Drafted)
A - Kris Draper, C, 38 years old, Canada, $1.58mil, 16th season on team
A - Henrik Zetterberg, LW, 29 years old, Sweden, $6.08mil, 7th season on team (Drafted)

Edmonton
C - Ethan Moreau, LW, 34 years old, Canada, $2mil, 11th season on team
A - Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, Sheldon Souray, Steve Staios

Florida
C - Bryan McCabe, D, 34 years old, Canada, $5.75mil (Highest), 2nd year on team
A - Cory Stillman, LW, 36 years old, Canada, $3.5mil, 2nd year on team
A - Stephen Weiss, C, 26 years old, Canada, $3.1mil, 8th year on team (Drafted)

Los Angeles
C - Dustin Brown, RW, 25 years old, United States, $3.175mil, 6th season on team (Drafted)
A - Anze Kopitar, C, 22 years old, Slovenia, $6.8mil (Highest), 4th season on team (Drafted)
A - Matt Greene, D, 26 years old, United States, $2.95mil, 2nd season on team

Minnesota
C - Mikko Koivu, C, 26 years old, Finland, $3.25mil, 5th season on team (Drafted)
A - Martin Havlat, RW, 28 years old, Czech Rep., $5mil (Highest), 1st season on team
A - Greg Zanon, D, 29 years old, Canada, $1.9mil, 1st season on team

Montreal
A - Brian Gionta, RW, 31 years old, United States, $5mil, 1st season on team
A - Hal Gill, D, 34 years old, United States, $2.25mil, 1st season on team
A - Andrei Markov, D, 31 years old, Russia, $5.75mil, 9th season on team (Drafted)

Nashville
C - Jason Arnott, C, 35 years old, Canada, $4.5mil (Highest), 4th season on team
A - Steve Sullivan, LW, 35 years old, Canada, $3.75mil, 5th season on team
A - Shea Weber, D, 24 years old, Canada, $4.5mil (Highest), 5th season on team (Drafted)

New Jersey
C - Jamie Langenbrunner, RW, 34 years old, United States, $2.8mil, 8th season on team
A - Patrik Elias, LW, 33 years old, Czech Rep., $6mil (Highest), 14th season on team (Drafted)
A - Zach Parise, C, 25 years old, United States, $3.125mil, 5th season on team (Drafted)

New York Islanders
C - Doug Weight, C, 39 years old, United States, $2.2mil, 2nd season on team
A - Kyle Okposo, Richard Park, Mark Streit, Brendan Witt

New York Rangers
C - Chris Drury, C, 33 years old, United States, $7.05mil, 3rd season on team
A - Ryan Callahan, RW, 24 years old, United States, $2.3mil, 4th season on team (Drafted)
A - Vinny Prospal, LW, 34 years old, Czech Rep., $1.15mil, 1st season on team

Ottawa
C - Daniel Alfredsson, RW, 37 years old, Sweden, $4.975mil, 14th season on team (Drafted)
A - Mike Fisher, C, 29 years old, Canada, $4.2mil, 10th season on team (Drafted)
A - Chris Phillips, D, 31 years old, Canada, $3.5mil, 12th season on team (Drafted)

Philadelphia
C - Mike Richards, C, 24 years old, Canada, $5.75mil, 5th season on team (Drafted)

Phoenix
C - Shane Doan, RW, 33 years old, Canada, $4.55mil, 14th season on team (Drafted)
A - Ed Jovanovski, D, 33 years old, Canada, $6.5mil (Highest), 4th season on team
A - Zybnek Michalak, D, 27 years old, Czech Rep., $1.25mil, 5th season on team

Pittsburgh
C - Sidney Crosby, C, 22 years old, Canada, $8.7mil (Highest), 5th season on team (Drafted)
A - Evgeni Malkin, C, 23 years old, Russia, $8.7 mil (Highest), 4th season on team (Drafted)
A - Sergei Gonchar, D, 35 years old, Russia $5mil, 5th season on team

San Jose
C - Rob Blake, D, 40 years old, Canada, $3.5mil, 2nd season on team
A - Joe Thornton, C, 30 years old, Canada, $7.2mil, 5th season on team
A - Dan Boyle, D, 33 years old, Canada, $6.67mil, 2nd season on team

St. Louis
C - Eric Brewer, D, 30 years old, Canada, $4.25mil, 5th season on team
A - Paul Kariya, LW, 35 years old, Canada, $6mil (Highest), 3rd season on team
A - Keith Tkachuk, 37 years old, United States, $2.55mil, 9th season on team
A - Barrett Jackman, D, 28 years old, Canada, $3.625mil, 8th season on team (Drafted)

Tampa Bay
C - Vincent Lecavalier, C, 29 years old, Canada, $7.72mil (Highest), 11th season on team (Drafted)
A - Martin St. Louis, RW, 34 years old, Canada, $5.25mil, 9th season on team
A - Mattias Ohlund, D, 33 years old, Sweden, $3.6mil, 1st season on team

Toronto
A - Francois Beauchemin, D, 29 years old, Canada, $3.8mil, 1st season on team
A - Tomas Kaberle, D, 31 years old, Czech Rep., $4.25mil, 11th season on team (Drafted)
A - Mike Komisarek, D, 28 years old, United States, $4.5mil, 1st season on team

Vancouver
C - Roberto Luongo, G, 30 years old, Canada, $6.75mil, 4th season on team
A - Ryan Kesler, C, 25 years old, United States, $1.75mil, 6th season on team (Drafted)
A - Henrik Sedin, C, 29 years old, Sweden, $6.1mil (Highest), 9th season on team (Drafted)
A - Willie Mitchell, D, 32 years old, Canada, $3.5mil, 4th season on team

Washington
C - Alex Ovechkin, LW, 24 years old, Russia, $9.5mil (Highest), 5th season on team (Drafted)
A - Mike Knuble, RW, 37 years old, Canada, $2.8mil, 1st season on team
A - Tom Poti, D, 32 years old, United States, $3.5mil, 3rd season on team

Lets break it on down...

Youth vs. Experience
Teams with Captains 25years or younger...
Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington
That's four in the East, three in the West.

Teams with Captains 35years or older...
Anaheim, Buffalo, Colorado, Detroit, Nashville, New York Islanders, Ottawa, San Jose
That's five in the West, three in the East.

The oldest Captain... that honor goes to Rob Blake (SJS), at the ripe old age of 40.

The youngest... Jonathan Toews (CHI), at the tender age of 21.

Average age of Captains around the league... 31 years old.

The youngest corps of leadership in the League goes to the newly re-vamped Minnesota Wild, with new free agents Havlat and Zanon tabbed as alternates, while Mikko's been with the team for five years.

The oldest band of leaders goes to the Winged Wheel of Detroit with Nicky Lidstrom, the 1st non-North American to Captain a team to the Cup, spending 18 years on the team. Of course, Lidstrom hasn't been the Captain all those years, Stevie Y held that helm for many years, but that's just how I did it, so fuck off. Kris Draper also helps the stat with 16 years on Detroit as well.


Speaking of ethnicity...
Canada boasts the most Captains in the League with 19, the Americans follow way behind with 5. Russia now has two with the promotion of Ovechkin, but may lose one with Kovalchuk's pending departure from Atlanta. Sweden also has two with Mr. Lidstrom and Mr. Alfredsson from Ottawa. Boston captain, Slovak Zdeno Chara hails from Trencin, Slovakia, and Scandinavian Mikko Koivu is a Turku, Finland native.

Minnesota is also one of four teams with a diverse group of Captain and Alternates, with a Finn, a Czech, and a Canadian, as well as Toronto, Washington, and Colorado.

There are technically seven teams with a completely Canadian corps...
Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Florida, Nashville, Philadelphia, and San Jose.
I say technically, because Buffalo and Philadelphia are the two teams that happen to only name a Captain, and no Alternates, and they both happen to be Canadian, (Craig Rivet & Mike Richards).

On the flip side of that, there are four teams without a Canadian in the unit...
Los Angeles, Montreal, New Jersey, and the New York Rangers.


Work through the Draft
There are fourteen teams who have drafted their Captain...
Atlanta, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Ottawa, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Tampa, and Washington. That's eight in the West, six in the East.

Only two teams in the League have drafted their entire troop, both Colorado and Ottawa only promote from within the company.

On the other hand, only two teams don't have a crew that they personally drafted. That pesky Craig Rivet fellow on Buffalo is again a technicality, and San Jose has acquired their team of leadership.


Putting Your Mouth Where the Money Is
Thirteen teams state that their highest paid player on the roster is their best chief...
Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Washington. That's seven Eastern teams, and six Western.

The most expensive Captains...
Alex Ovechkin at $9.5 mil, followed by Sid Crosby at $8.7mil, and Rick Nash at $7.8mil.

The cheapest Captains...
Ethan Moreau at $2mil, followed by Doug Weight at $2.2mil, and Jamie Langenbrunner at $2.8mil.

The most expensive gang of leadership...
The Pittsburgh Penguins with an average of almost $7.5mil tied up. Twin $8.7mil contracts to Crosby and Malkin will do that, not to mention a hefty $5mil to Gonchar until at least the end of the year.

The cheapest bunch of ragamuffins...
The New York Islanders with an average of just over $2.25mil. I guess a gaggle of four Alternates will help to bring an already cheap payroll down further.

Odds and Ends
Speaking of committee work, there are four teams with more than three Alternates...
The Isles, Oilers, and Stars all have four, while Columbus tops the charts with six listed Alternates.

Mentioned earlier, Philadelphia and Buffalo are the only teams without listed Alternates, while Montreal and Toronto have no Captain whatsoever. Leadership issues much? Boston has only one Alternate for Big Z and that's Patrice Bergeron.

And it goes without saying that Roberto Luongo is the only goalie who was named Captain since Bill Durnan tenured the position in 1947-48 for the Habs.

Enjoy slobs.