Hakandahlstrom at English Wikipedia, Joe sakic, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sean Russell, Yzerman, CC BY-SA 2.0
One of the greatest honors for an NHL player is to wear the captain’s “C” at some point during his career, as it signifies both excellence in play and in leadership ability. With the advent of free agency and players moving around from team to team, it has become increasingly rare for a team to have a captain for an extended period of time, e.g. a decade of more. In recent history, Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman come to mind as great captains who played their entire 20+ year Hall of Fame careers with one franchise and led their respective teams to the Stanley Cup. There are many career similarities between the two (both from Canada, both played center, both spent their entire career with one team, both were 1,500+ point scorers and strong two-way players, both were relatively quiet and chose to lead by example, etc.), thus it is only natural to compare them and ask:
Who was better – Joe Sakic or Steve Yzerman?
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