What IS Leadership, Really?

Two things you should know about me from a hockey standpoint: I love stats, and I like paying attention to other teams' captains, as well as my own. Today, while watching Hurricanes-Senators, I heard the announcers talking about Eric Staal's lack of production so far. In 25 games, he has five goals and six assists for a total of 11 points, and he's also an alarming, team-worst -17. Granted, the 'Canes are not the most consistent of teams, winning and dropping at an unpredictable rate, but considering their captain is not starting out as expected with production, it's a cause for concern. Same with Alexander Ovechkin, who has a whopping seventeen points (8 G, 9 A) in 22 games (while recently-returned Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby has just around half that in four games played... just saying).

So it got me to thinking... how exactly are the captains faring this season?

Well, it's pretty much all over the board.

• The two biggest point producers so far are Jason Pominville (Buffalo) and Jonathan Toews (Chicago). Each captain has 25 points on the season, Toews with more even point distribution (13-12). Pominville (9-16) is one point behind Thomas Vanek on the Sabres' stat chart, while Toews is leading his teammates. Toews also has a captains-leading four game-winning goals (well, tied with Vincent Lecavalier), and while he wasn't on the scoresheet for the Blackhawks' last two losses (San Jose and Edmonton), he proves that when he's on, the 'Hawks have that much more of a chance of winning.
• Zdeno Chara has also been a huge factor in his team's success. With sixteen points and three of his four goals on the power play, he's been a big contributor, but another telling stat is his plus-minus. He's +13, and while other players certainly contribute to a player's plus-minus, that's still impressive. Much more impressive than Staal's -17, Ryan Getzlaf's (Anaheim) -11 or Mark Streit's (NYI) -10. It still wasn't the best, though- that honor belongs to Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, who is a +15 even with the 4-1 loss to Detroit yesterday.
• Other impressive leaders on the ice are Chris Pronger, who (though I hate him) posted 12 points in 13 games played. Also, the aforementioned Crosby, though admittedly he posted half of his eight points in one game- his return against (who else?) the Islanders.
• Captains who have been contributing on the power play include Milan Hejduk (Avs, 4 PPG), Shawn Horcoff (Edmonton, 4 PPG) and Henrik Sedin (Vancouver, 5 PPG).
• The captain who's been the naughtiest? Dallas's Brenden Morrow, who's tallied 39 minutes in the sin bin so far. On the opposite end, Pominville and Horcoff have been relative saints (2 PIM each).
  
• Zach Parise's got two shorthanded goals so far, which is a third of his goal total to date (six altogether). David Backes (St. Louis), Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa), Mikko Koivu (Minnesota) and Jason Pominville are the only other captains to post shorties this season.
• Despite his scanty goal total, Eric Staal has 88 shots so far. His scoring percentage is just 5.6%. In contrast, Sedin's 36 shots and 8 goals total to around 22%.
  
• Aside from Pominville, Joe Thornton (San Jose) has been very helpful to his teammates, tallying 16 assists.
• The one team without a captain, Florida, is getting decent production from its four alternates. Stephen Weiss leads the way with 22 points and +13. Next is Brian Campbell (19, +5), then Tomas Kopecky (10, -5) and Ed Jovanovski (5, -3).
  

So what does this all mean? In the grand scheme of a 25-man team, it doesn't seem like much, right? Not exactly. Teams and coaches expect their captains to lead by example, both on and off the ice (to use the old cliche). Many of these captains are in, at the very least, their team's top ten in scoring, and it directly contributes to their team's success. When you consider who's in the top five in the league standings right now- Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and Philly- their captain's successes and influence over their team must certainly factor in, which is why the captaincy is an aspect of a team that cannot be overlooked or tossed to just anyone. Just look at how Pittsburgh faltered in the playoffs without Crosby, or how Carolina is struggling along with the production of Staal, and you'll see what I mean.

On the other hand, captains can't always get their team going. Other things, like overall lack of effort (evident in the Islanders' play many a time) or coaching (which is what I hear grumbles about from Washington Capitals fans) may hamper a captain's production and leadership abilities. In that case, measures must be taken to wake up the team, whether that come from line changes, trades and waivers or a coaching change. However, in many cases, leadership on the ice in the form of production is definitely one of the factors in a team's lasting success.