NHL CAPTAIN FIRSTS
Back in June, Aleksander Barkov became the first Finnish-born NHL captain to lead his squad to a Stanley Cup championship. But, he’s not the first European-born captain to hoist the cup. That honor belongs to Nick Lidstrom, who did it in 2008.
This week I’m taking a look at some of the league’s pioneering captains, so without further ado, here are 9 NHL captain firsts.
FIRST EUROPEAN CAPTAN: LARS-ERIK SJOBERG
The Winnipeg Jets were trailblazers in terms of scouting for European talent in the 1970s, landing several gems including Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg, and Lars-Erik Sjoberg. Sjoberg served as the Jets captain in their final few WHA seasons, and remained their captain when the team made the leap to the NHL, making him the first European-born player in NHL history to wear the “C”.
HOWEVER…
Stanislav Gvoth was born in the former Czechoslovakia, and lived there until he was eight years old. Hoping to give him a better life, Gvoth’s parents sent young Stanisav to live in Canada with his Aunt Anna and Uncle Joe Mikita. Stan took the Mikita’s last name and went on to be one of the greatest NHL players of all-time, eventually captaining the Chicago Black Hawks for a stint between 1975 and 1977.
But, Sjoberg is widely recognized as the first European captain, I guess because he was the product of European hockey programs, unlike Mikita who played all his hockey in Canada.
FIRST TO CAPTAIN DIFFERENT TEAMS TO A CUP: MARK MESSIER
There have been a number of players to wear the captain’s “C” for more than one team, but the first to wear the “C” and hoist the cup for more than one team is Mark “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One” Messier.
There’s a reason it’s called the Mark Messier Leadership Award.
FIRST NON-CANADIAN CAPTAIN TO WIN THE CUP: DERIAN HATCHER
If you were born in 1917 and passed away in 1998 you would have never seen an NHL captain win the Stanley Cup who wasn’t Canadian.
It took until 1999 for the first non-Canadian to lead his team to the Stanley Cup. That man was American born Derian Hatcher, but if you ask Lindy Ruff, I’m pretty sure he’d say that Hatcher didn’t win it at all.
FIRST CAPTAIN OF AFRICAN DESCENT: DIRK GRAHAM
Another notable Hawks captain, Dirk Graham the first NHL captain of African descent. Graham led by example with his solid two-way play, winning the Selke Trophy in 1991.
Graham then went on to coach the Blackhawks in 1998, becoming the first head coach of African descent in NHL history.
FIRST CAPTAIN TO SERVE 20 YEARS WITH THE 'C': STEVE YZERMAN
There’s a big place in my heart for Stevie Wonder. He spent his whole career with one team, the Red Wings, and he captained them all the way to three Stanley Cup Championships. His 20 year tenure as captain spanned from 1986 to 2006, making him the longest serving captain of any major sports team.
But — small asterisk, here — because of the 2004–2005 lockout season, Yzerman only wore the “C” for 19 seasons.
FIRST UNDER-20 CAPTAIN: VINCENT LECAVALIER
Connor McDavid became the youngest captain in NHL history when the Oilers crowned him their on-ice leader in 2016, when he was 19 years and 266 days old.
But the first under-20 NHL captain was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Vinny Lecavalier, who rose to the rank in 2000 at the age of 19 years and 315 days.
John Tortorella may have stripped Vinny of the captaincy before the 2001-02 season, but he’d get it back in 2008 – and Tampa still loves him!
FIRST FATHER AND SON TO BOTH BE CAPTAINS: J.P. AND ZACH PARISE
There have been a bunch of fathers and sons who’ve played in the NHL. These days, play-by-play sounds a lot like it did back in the 90s — “Tkachuk flattens Nylander, and Domi takes exception!” What year is this?
Anyways, a number of these father and son combos have been captains of their respective teams. Keith and Brady Tkachuk springs to mind. But, the first father/son combo to wear the “C” for their teams was Jean-Paul and Zach Parise. J.P. donned the “C” for the Minnesota North Stars in the Late 1970s, while Zach was bestowed the honor by the New Jersey Devils in 2011.
FIRST GOALIE TO SERVE AS CAPTAIN: JOHN ROSS ROACH
These days goalies aren’t allowed to be captains, but there was a time when it was totally legal — a hundred years ago. Only six goaltenders have served as the official on-ice captain of their NHL team.
Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens was the last to serve as team leader in 1948, but the first was John Ross Roach, who captained the Toronto St. Patricks way back in the 1924-25 season — 100 years ago!
FIRST NHL CAPTAIN TO LOOK LIKE NON FROM SUPERMAN II: RADKO GUDAS
Hockey history is filled with legendary captains from Wayne Gretzky, to Jonathan Toews, to Jean Beliveau.
But of all these NHL greats, only one looks like General Zod’s Kryptonian Grunt, Non, from Superman II (who’s also non-Canadian). And that is Radko Gudas, who this year was promoted to Captain of the Anaheim Ducks.
Hopefully Gudas doesn’t get banished to the Phantom Zone. Does anyone get that reference?
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
We’ve seen a lot of captains firsts in recent years, and we could see another soon — the first NHL captain to score 900 goals. All Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin needs is 47 tallies to reach that uncharted territory.
As much as I revere The Great One, I welcome every contributor to hockey history, and there’s no denying Ovi is a major contributor.
If you liked reading this list of captains firsts, then you’ll love my 4 Shots with Keener newsletter. It comes out every Friday and it’s delivered free to your email. All you have to do is sign up, and we’ll take care of the rest.
See you next week!
